Likud watchdog says Netanyahu cannot cancel primaries

Likud’s internal watchdog, attorney Shay Galili, has completed a harsh report arguing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s push to cancel the party’s primaries is illegal. The report says that advancing a special committee to determine the Knesset candidate list would require explicit approval from party members.

Netanyahu has long portrayed Likud as Israel’s most democratic party because it holds primaries, unlike Yesh Atid and Yisrael Beiteinu, but aides have increasingly discussed scrapping the July primaries. In their place, he has worked to form a “special committee” of mayors and local leaders close to him that would draw up the list. Likud has already canceled the leadership primary after no one ran against Netanyahu, and canceling the slate primary as well would be the second time internal elections are scrapped.

Party and movement institutions have sharply criticized the plan. Netanyahu says the list needs to be “fixed” and has expressed concern about electing new lawmakers in districts and sectors he does not control. His allies argue the current slate is unattractive and even drives voters away. Critics inside Likud say he is staging a classic bluff, threatening to cancel primaries in order to secure 10 reserved spots for himself.

According to the report, even if Likud changed its constitution, any cancellation would apply only to future elections, not the upcoming one. Galili also wrote that reserving slots would require a constitutional amendment and that, under the current legal situation, the party center cannot approve a candidate who was not chosen in primaries unless the constitution is formally changed. The internal fight centers on MK Tali Gottlieb, who polls near the top of the Likud slate, often ahead of Minister Miri Regev. Netanyahu is reportedly trying to push her out, while Gottlieb told Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, “We will not let Netanyahu cancel the primaries. Likud is not Yesh Atid.”