Highly competitive Likud primaries set as Netanyahu holds expanded control over Knesset slate
Likud’s primary race has become more competitive after changes gave Netanyahu control over eight of the first 30 places on the Knesset slate.
More than 140,000 Likud members are set to participate in highly competitive primaries on Monday. Candidates made their final push for votes on Sunday as tensions within the party escalated over expanded control by chairman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the party's Knesset slate. Polls opened at 9 a.m. and will remain open until 8 p.m. at stations across Israel.
Netanyahu pledged to support the winning slate, stating that he trusts Likud members to choose their representatives wisely and according to their own judgment. He emphasized that he would not interfere in the selection of the national list. Earlier in the week, Netanyahu pushed for changes to Likud's primary system, a move that led to an especially competitive race with fewer slots available than usual.
He was granted the authority to determine eight slots within the first 30 spots on the party list in late August following a vote by the Likud Central Committee.
Opponents of the changes argue that they will disadvantage those who would otherwise score highly in the primaries, falling further down the list. With around 40 ministers and MKs already serving in the government and Knesset, Likud faces a projected 22 seats, risking the loss of many seats on the party's Knesset list. The vote precedes the general elections on October 27, where primaries are not mandatory.
Further tensions arose after the Tel Aviv District Court rejected Likud MK Afif Abed's attempt to restore a recently approved change allowing current and former MKs, ministers, and deputy ministers to run in district primaries. Likud maintained the restrictions for the upcoming vote, explaining that one of Netanyahu's reserved slots would go to entrepreneur and businessman Oren Dobronsky, while three ministers—Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa ar, and Likud Central Committee Chairman Haim Katz—received reserved slots.
Sa ar's New Hope-United Right party merged with Likud in 2025, with Sa ar returning to the party after resigning in 2020. Likud also granted the reserved slot to the party's Central Committee chairman due to his senior position within the organization.
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