Likud to hold August 4 primary, as Netanyahu gives up on reported threat to cancel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party will hold an internal primary voted on August 4, Hebrew media reports, amid ongoing disagreements over the election format and the number of reserved slots on the party’s Knesset slate.

The premier is reportedly demanding 11 reserved slots within the top 40 places on the list, while Likud Constitution Committee chairman Haim Katz opposes that. No agreement has yet been reached.

According to the reports, the Constitution Committee is set to meet today to discuss the primaries, with a final decision on the number of reserved slots to be allocated to Netanyahu expected in July.

The party has been locked in an internal dispute after Netanyahu reportedly threatened to replace the primary with a selection committee if he was not granted the authority to place up to 10 handpicked candidates in the top 35 spots on the slate.

The proposal faced strong opposition from senior Likud figures, including MK David Bitan, who last week petitioned the party’s internal court to block any attempt to cancel the primary.

Likud is one of only a handful of Israeli parties that hold primaries to select both their leader and Knesset slate, alongside the left-wing Democrats, which is set to hold internal elections on July 20, and the Arab-majority Hadash, which held a primary in May.

Likud is currently projected to fall from its current 32 seats to around 22-24 in the next election, with several recent polls showing it running neck-and-neck with, or even trailing, Gadi Eisenkot’s newly formed Yashar party.

The August primary will only be for the Likud slate, as Netanyahu already won the party leadership uncontested in November.