Lapid tightens grip on Yesh Atid, delays leadership race
Ex-finance minister said to have secretly changed party’s regulations, deferring ballot until after next national elections
Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid secretly canceled the party’s planned primaries, thereby cementing his position as leader until after the next general election, Channel 10 reported Thursday.
When Lapid established Yesh Atid in 2012, he inserted a clause in the party’s bylaws, saying that he would not need to stand for election in the next two Knessets – the last Knesset, in which Yesh Atid was a key coalition member (and Lapid was finance minister), and the current parliament, where it sits in opposition.
Therefore, according to the centrist party’s regulations as defined by Lapid, Yesh Atid should have to hold elections for the position of chairman and for its list of parliamentary candidates before the next general elections. But with Lapid’s new change, the party can now postpone its internal voting until after the next Knesset takes office. As a result, Lapid will continue to head the party until after the elections for the next parliament, and maintains his exclusive power to decide the party’s list of candidates.
The son of late MK Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, who headed the secular Shinui party, Yair Lapid followed in his father’s footsteps in going from journalism to politics.
His rise in the run-up to the 19th Knesset was meteoric, seeing him win 19 Knesset seats, four more than the Labor party. But in the next Knesset elections in March 2015, Lapid saw his party’s domination end, winning just 11 seats.
Two polls published two weeks ago, which sought to gauge the impact of former IDF chief Gabi Ashkenazi entering the fray, found that a party with Ashkenazi, Lapid and current Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon could beat Likud by five seats (Likud currently holds 30 Knesset seats).
Before the last elections, Lapid said in an interview that he believes that after the current government ends its term, he would be ready to challenge Benjamin Netanyahu for the role of prime minister.
Stuart Winer contributed to this report.