Lapid says he'll green-light a Yesh Atid leadership vote -- next year

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid says he’s amenable to hold a leadership vote for the first time since the party’s founding eight years ago.

But Lapid says the party will only decide on how such a vote would be held next year, after its first conference.

“There will be a vote. I welcome it, it’s time, but we will do it without pressure,” says Lapid, days after his fellow party member Ofer Shelah called for leadership primaries and said he would run.

“But no one gives me ultimatums. I won’t allow for the trends that destroyed parties like Labor and Kadima to also destroy Yesh Atid,” says Lapid, referring to contentious primary battles in other center-left parties.

He also rules out open primaries.