Likud announces Talik Gvili, Elisha Medan as latest reserved slots as deadline to submit list looms

On Tuesday, the Likud party announced that Talik Gvili, the mother of fallen soldier Ran Gvili, and Elisha Medan, a reservist who lost both legs in the Gaza Strip, would receive reserved slots on their list. This announcement came as internal disputes over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reserved slots and the approval process continued.

The Likud court convened at 11 a.m. to decide whether the vote on the reserved slots would be held secretly or openly. The dispute revolves around the approval process and the possibility of secretariat members influencing the final list Netanyahu will present before the court just hours before the deadline for submitting candidate lists.

Likud officials believe that an in-person discussion by the secretariat could bring about a compromise, allowing Netanyahu to secure approval for some of the reserved slots he desires while enabling several elected MKs to move higher on the list. Previous court rulings have recognized Netanyahu's authority to make reserved appointments, but the court now also has to decide how the vote will be conducted, whether it will be open or secret.

Netanyahu's list submission deadline was approaching, and several of the reserved slots were still not finalized. Oren Dobronsky, who had already been offered a reserved slot, declined it and instead expressed interest in becoming a professional minister responsible for artificial intelligence if a Netanyahu-led government is formed. Despite several rejections, Netanyahu still had six realistic reserved slots available.