Likud Ministers Katz and Bitan Oppose Electronic Voting in Party Primaries

Likud ministers Haim Katz and Member of Knesset David Bitan have conveyed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu their opposition to holding electronic voting in the party's upcoming primaries. Each opposes the move for different reasons. The party's election committee convened on Thursday to discuss the issue, where both expressed strong resistance to the digital voting proposal.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Netanyahu was preparing for the possibility of digital voting to select the party's Knesset list. He was impressed by the Democratic Party's primaries in the United States, which were conducted digitally with very high turnout. The main motivation for considering electronic voting is concern over potential security escalations. Additionally, digital primaries could save the party millions of shekels and reduce the influence of pressure groups that mainly operate at physical polling stations.

Deputy CEO of Likud, David Sharan, is considered the main advocate for the electronic voting idea. Currently, Netanyahu has suggested electronic voting only in the event of a complex security scenario, but sources close to him believe it could be implemented even without such a scenario. Separately, the Likud central committee approved Netanyahu's request to allocate eight reserved spots on the party list. The Likud court emphasized that primaries must be held, underscoring that the party does not belong to a single individual.