From the Liveblog of
Monday, August 17, 2026
Polling stations set to open nationwide in hotly contested Likud primary race
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Polling stations are set to open across the country at 10 a.m. for the 140,000 members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party to choose candidates for the party’s election slate, a closely watched contest that could heavily influence the character of the next government should the pro-Netanyahu bloc win in October.
Polls will be open until 9 p.m.
One of the few parties to determine its electoral lineup via primary, Likud has long prided itself on its internal democratic process. However, changes to the system this year pushed by Netanyahu have shrunk the number of open spots on the roster and turned the vote into an unusually hotly contested race as party politicians jockey for a good enough showing to secure a likely Knesset seat.
Public opinion polls have consistently shown Likud getting 22-24 seats in the October 27 election, down from its current 32. A decision last month by the Likud Central Committee significantly expanded Netanyahu’s control over the party’s Knesset slate, granting him the power to place eight people of his choosing in reserved slots among the top 29 places on the list — a number subsequently expanded to nine.
Today’s primary is going ahead despite Netanyahu’s efforts to cancel it and to select its Knesset slate through an appointed committee controlled by the premier.
In a statement released through a party spokesman last night, Netanyahu said that during the primary he will cast his ballot “for a winning list that will ensure [Yashar chairman Gadi] Eisenkot and [The Democrats chairman] Yair Golan do not form a narrow government with the Arab parties as they promised.”
Yair Golan is the only member of the opposition to support forming a government with the Islamist Ra’am party, a possibility which has been publicly rejected by the other anti-Netanyahu bloc leaders. Ra’am was a member of the previous, and short-lived, Lapid-Bennett government.
“I trust you, Likud members, to choose your representatives correctly according to your own judgment. I am not interfering in the nationwide list and I wish everyone good luck,” Netanyahu added, referring to seats chosen by members at large and not appointed by him personally.
The Times of Israel Community.