Likud Primaries Proceed After Amin Afif Withdraws Appeal Against District Candidacy Ban

The dramatic hours within the Likud party concluded as Knesset member Amin Afif withdrew his appeal against the party's internal court ruling, allowing the primaries to proceed as scheduled. The Supreme Court judges indicated reluctance to intervene in the Likud's internal decision, which bars current and former Knesset members from running in district races, limiting them to the national list only. Afif's appeal challenged this restriction, seeking to enable incumbents to compete in district slots, but after the court's hesitation, he retracted his appeal, leaving the party court's decision intact.

The social forum aligned with the National Labor Federation, which opposed allowing Knesset members to run in districts, hailed the outcome as a victory for opening the list to new forces. The Supreme Court hearing took place at 9 p.m. following an intense day of legal developments and pressure within Likud to reach an immediate resolution.

Earlier, the Likud movement urgently requested the Supreme Court to expedite its ruling, fearing that any delay would jeopardize the August 17 primaries. The election management company warned that without a decision, it could not proceed with printing over half a million ballots or preparing more than 100 polling stations nationwide. Documents submitted to the court detailed that postponing the primaries would require recruiting about 2,000 new workers, finding new polling sites, and could delay voting by at least two weeks, incurring an additional cost of over 5.5 million shekels.

The alternative schedule proposed would have pushed the primaries to August 31 or September 1, dangerously close to the September 8 deadline for submitting candidate lists for the Knesset elections. This would have complicated finalizing results, appeals, and submitting the Likud list on time. With Afif's withdrawal, the uncertainty over the primaries was removed, allowing Likud to continue preparations for the August 17 vote under the party court's established rules.