Likud Court Rules on Primary Election Rules, Restricts Candidates and Extends Deadlines

The Likud Supreme Court issued a series of rulings overnight regarding petitions against the party's primary election framework. The court decided that current and former Knesset members, ministers, and deputy ministers cannot run in regional districts. Additionally, sitting Knesset members are barred from contesting guaranteed representation slots unless they resign from the Knesset.

The court also accepted a petition correcting a counting error in the party's regulations, assigning the 35th spot on the Likud list to the national list rather than to the women's guaranteed representation slot. It ruled that the Jerusalem, Shfela, and Judea and Samaria districts will remain unified despite their size, while the location of the Haifa and Northern district slot will not change.

Another ruling mandates that candidates in districts be elected by all registered members within each district. For guaranteed representation of immigrants, only those who immigrated after January 1, 1990, will qualify. The court extended the deadline for candidate submissions, changes in candidacy framework, and withdrawals by 48 hours from the decision's publication, allowing full refund of registration fees upon withdrawal.

The Social Forum, affiliated with the National Labor Federation and represented by attorney Eric Twito, welcomed the ruling as a victory for common sense and for enabling new and younger candidates to compete, preserving the party's future. The decision was made by majority opinion of judges David Elbaz, Rafi Boker, and Yitzhak Bass, with some dissent from judge Akiva Nof on certain issues.