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Sunday, June 28, 2026
Golan’s Democrats party unveils 51 candidates for July 20 primary, touts membership of 85,000
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Yair Golan’s left-wing Democratic Party announces the final list of 51 candidates set to compete in its July 20 primary, and reports that a record 85,000 members have registered to vote in the primary, ahead of the upcoming national election set to be held by October 27.
Membership remains open until July 12, with only registered members eligible to vote in the primary the following week.
The list includes MKs Naama Lazimi, Gilad Kariv and Efrat Rayten, former Meretz MKs Michal Rozin, Mossi Raz, and Gaby Lasky, former deputy national security adviser Eran Etzion, Rabbis for Human Rights CEO Avi Dabush, Danny Elgarat, brother of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat, Arab rights activist Somaya Bashir, secular rights activist Naor Narkis, and anti-government protest leaders Moshe Radman, Ami Dror, Moran Michel and Nava Rozolyo. MK Merav Michaeli, a former Labor chair, will not run.
Golan occupies the top spot on the slate and will not be competing in the primary. Candidates below him will be ranked according to the number of votes they receive, subject to party rules meant to create gender parity, representation for Meretz candidates, kibbutzim and moshavim, and Arab and Druze minorities.
The party says that the list represents a “diverse range of communities from Beit Jann in the north to Sde Boker in the south” and includes 19 women, with candidates coming from the Jewish, Druze, Arab and LGBTQ communities.
“While the rest of the political map retreats into closed rooms, relying on arranging committees or a single leader, we are offering the public a transparent, open, principled and stable governing alternative,” says party secretary-general Omer Lubaton, calling the party “the only democratic party” in the opposition bloc.
Only a handful of Israeli parties, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and the Arab-majority Hadash, use primaries to select their Knesset slates.
The Democrats currently holds four Knesset seats but has consistently polled at 10-11 seats in recent months, including in surveys conducted by The Times of Israel’s sister site Zman Yisrael.
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