The Likud has approved a proposal to give its leader, and incumbent prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, greater control over the party’s election slate.
The plan, which allows Netanyahu to reserve eight of the top 29 slots on the candidate list, was approved by the faction’s Central Committee on Monday.
The prime minister will now control the 3rd, 5th, 9th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 26th and 29th spots on the list, which he is expected to use to elevate candidates popular with the Likud base.
Rumoured names include controversial MK Tally Gotliv, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and Equality Minister May Golan, all of whom are seen as on the right of the party.
Under current polls, the party is expected to claim between 21 and 23 Knesset seats, meaning that Netanyahu now effectively controls the selection of a third of its MKs.
The new measure followed months of intensive negotiations, including several failed attempts by the prime minister to scrap the party’s primary system in favour of candidates chosen by an appointed committee.
And, in a rare show of internal dissent, some Likud MKs pushed back publicly against the plan, arguing that it would see incumbent legislators pushed down or off the list in favour of Netanyahu’s selected candidates.
David Bitan MK, who led the revolt, accused Haim Katz, the chair of the Likud Constitution Committee, of “building a faction within a faction”.
He also claimed that Netanyahu was likely to use his slots to secure seats for his political allies currently outside the party, specifically mentioning prospective candidates from the New Hope faction, which merged with Likud last year and which is led by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
Similarly, he suggested that spots could be reserved for MKs from the far-right Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties to encourage them to stick with the current coalition amid internal divisions over Gaza, settlements and the Charedi draft as the election campaign gets into full swing.
Religious Zionism has already confirmed the results of its own primaries, which saw its likely seat allocation mostly filled by incumbent MKs.
The faction’s leader, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, was already confirmed in his position by a central committee vote last year and did not face a primary challenge.
After Sunday’s vote, second place on the list was secured by Settlements Minister Orit Stroock, followed by serving MKs Simcha Rothman, Zvi Sukkot and Ohed Tahal.
The only notable newcomer to the RZ ranks was Omer Rahamim, leader of the Yesha Council, an umbrella group for settlements, who leapfrogged Michal Woldiger MK for sixth place, with the party expected to win between six and eight seats.
Elsewhere, the leftist Democrats party has launched its election campaign, with leader Yair Golan making the issue of West Bank settlements a central debate.
Speaking in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on Sunday, Golan accused the government of having "blood on their hands” over the escalation of violence in the territory.
The former IDF deputy chief also pledged to “restore sanity” to security policy and “bring in one million votes”, a threshold only Likud breached at the last election, while Meretz and Labor, the two parties which merged to form The Democrats, mustered around 300,000 combined.
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