Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the Likud party management not to hold the scheduled vote today, citing legal delays that prevented many members from voting, according to the party. He instructed the party to set a new date for a re-vote in the near future.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Likud party management to cancel today's scheduled vote on reserved Knesset slots and to set a new date, the party announced on Thursday afternoon. The directive cited legal delays that prevented many Likud members from voting, according to the party statement. The move comes after a day of legal maneuvering that saw the party convention vote halted by multiple court orders.
Earlier on Thursday, at 11:34 Jerusalem, the desk reported a rapid sequence of developments. A request for an interim injunction was filed to stop the primary vote (version 1). The Lod District Court then issued an interim order (version 2), followed by a court order blocking the convention vote on Netanyahu's reserved slots (version 3). The court named the Social Forum and the National Histadrut as petitioners and confirmed an indefinite postponement of the convention (version 4). Journalist Dafna Liel (N12) reported that a court halted the vote minutes before the convention (version 5). The Likud Party Court scheduled a hearing for the afternoon (version 6), and the party announced it would not hold the vote following the party court injunction (version 7).
The day's events are the latest in a series of internal Likud disputes over the primary process and the composition of the party list. As The Zioneer reported on Wednesday, Netanyahu had postponed a meeting on the primaries, and earlier in the week the party court ruled that the primary ballot wording was misleading. The party has also seen calls to bypass primaries via an arranging committee, as reported on June 9.
It remains unclear when a new vote will be scheduled, and whether the legal challenges that disrupted today's vote will be resolved. The full scope of the legal delays cited by the party has not been detailed.
8 developments
- StrongNetanyahu again asks to postpone meeting on Likud primaries
- StrongLikud primaries reportedly set to be canceled; Netanyahu to determine list
- StrongLikud convention reportedly postponed to Thursday, primaries to mid-August
- DevelopingLikud sources: Netanyahu seeks to cancel primaries to prevent defections in a deadlock scenario
Source and signal
- Internal intake