The Likud Court has ruled that current and former Likud Members of the Knesset (MKs), ministers, and deputy ministers cannot run in the party’s regional slots in the upcoming primaries. This decision overturns a recent convention resolution that sought to allow these officials to compete in the regional races, a change that had been narrowly approved by a margin of just five votes.
The ruling, handed down by an expanded panel of five judges following a nearly 10-hour hearing, stipulates that the regional slots are intended to foster emerging leadership from grassroots candidates by providing a balanced playing field. The judges noted that serving lawmakers possess inherent advantages such as public recognition, media exposure, and political infrastructure that newer candidates lack, undermining the intended purpose of the regional contests.
The court also established that an immigrant, for representation purposes, is defined as someone who moved to Israel after January 1, 1990. Additionally, it extended the deadline for candidate registration by 48 hours, allowing for adjustments in the candidacy process, including changes in track selection and the option to withdraw while retaining a refund of registration fees.
While the court invalidated the provision permitting sitting MKs to run in regional slots, it upheld the convention’s allocation of eight reserved list positions to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, allowing him to maintain significant influence over the party’s final candidate list.
During the proceedings, allegations surfaced that Netanyahu had been recorded as voting illegally during the party’s convention. The court dismissed these claims, citing the absence of evidence and confirming that voting protocols documented his participation under security constraints.
The panel criticized the Likud administration for its conduct during the convention vote, specifically for endorsing the party chairman’s position despite employing an external company to manage the election process. Observers were deployed to polling stations only several hours after a court directive to do so, and discrepancies were noted between the number of voters, envelopes, and ballots across multiple locations, including Rishon Lezion, Jerusalem, Ramle, and Acre. Although no evidence of deliberate fraud was found, the judges determined that these irregularities, coupled with the narrow vote margin, prevented them from confirming the legality of the proposal’s approval.
The court declined to order a recount or new vote, citing logistical constraints ahead of the primaries. In a dissenting opinion, Judge Akiva Nof argued that the five-vote majority should stand and that a recount would have been a more appropriate remedy if doubts existed.
Additional rulings included barring serving MKs from running in guaranteed representation slots unless they resigned from the Knesset and forfeited state funding. The court also reversed an error that had designated the 35th spot on the party list as reserved for women, returning it to the general national category.
Petitions to subdivide certain regional districts—Jerusalem, Shfela (Judean Foothills), and Judea and Samaria—were rejected on the basis that such changes would disrupt the ongoing candidate registration and election campaign. A proposal to elevate the Haifa and northern regional district on the list was also denied.
Finally, the judges clarified that regional candidates would be elected by all registered Likud members within their specific regions, rather than by the broader Likud Central Committee, as the requisite constitutional amendment had not yet come into effect.