Gantz’s National Unity to hold primaries in coming months, as support down in polls
Announcement comes days ahead of possible preliminary vote to dissolve the Knesset, and as surveys show support for Gantz’s number two, Gadi Eisenkot, to take party helm
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"
Benny Gantz’s National Unity party will hold primaries in the coming months, the party announced Sunday, days before an expected preliminary vote to dissolve the Knesset, in an apparent move to bolster public support ahead of elections.
In a statement, the party said that an outline presented to its lawmakers on Sunday called for National Unity to “open its ranks to public participation” in the coming months and that the “party assembly will be renewed and significantly enlarged.”
As part of this process, “elections for the party leadership will be held” and “members of the party’s audit committee and other internal institutions will be reappointed,” the statement continued, adding that the initiative will be headed by a “diverse” team.
An Israeli Democracy Institute poll released in February showed that National Unity had experienced a clear downward trend over the course of the past year, going from a 70% repeat voter share in April to 34% in December.
A Channel 12 survey in February found mounting support for party number two MK Gadi Eisenkot to replace Gantz at the head of National Unity. The poll found that following former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s return to politics, the party would receive several more seats with Eisenkot in charge than with Gantz.
In March, the Haaretz daily reported that Eisenkot was dissatisfied with Gantz’s reluctance to honor a promise to hold leadership primaries within National Unity ahead of the next elections and that relations had soured between the two.
A recent Channel 13 poll showed National Unity getting 9 seats if elections were held today, down from the 12 it won in the 2022 elections (when it included Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party). By contrast, in June 2024, a poll found Gantz’s party would receive 17 seats if elections had been held then.
Gantz is also seen as the less suitable candidate for prime minister in comparison to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with a Channel 12 poll last week finding that Netanyahu trounced him 37% to 23% among respondents.
In comparison, in June 2024, he was considered more suited to the role than Netanyahu by a margin of 34% to 31%.
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