"The attempt to cancel the Likud primaries is undemocratic and would harm the party."
By GIL HOFFMANDanny Danon(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
World Likud chairman Danny Danon called upon Likud leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to initiate primaries for the party leadership and its Knesset list for the next election.The Likud last held primaries for its list ahead of the April 2019 election. The party decided to keep its list for the following two elections, and there has been talk about doing the same for the next one.“The Likud is Israel’s largest democratic party, and its free elections for its list and leadership are fundamental and must be maintained,” Danon wrote in a letter to Netanyahu. “The attempt to cancel the Likud primaries is undemocratic and would harm the party.”Primaries are held automatically in the party before elections if they are not canceled. Netanyahu has decided on multiple occasions to initiate early primaries for the Likud leadership to catch his possible competition off guard.MK Haim Katz, head of the Likud Central Committee, has been advancing a proposal to keep the same list if elections are initiated before May 2021, according to Likud sources.Netanyahu’s spokesman declined to respond to Danon’s request.The Likud’s internal court will meet next Monday to consider coalition chairman Miki Zohar’s request to cancel last week’s World Likud election in which Danon beat him. The election violated an injunction from the internal court to cancel it. The court is also set to consider Zohar’s request to expel Danon from the Likud for violating the injunction.Zohar’s request to expel Danon was “outrageous and ridiculous,” a source close to Danon said.
