Netanyahu wants Likud reform
Photo: AP
Bibi takes on Likud Central Committee
Likud leader Netanyahu wants to neutralize powerful Central Committee, allow all Likud members to choose party's Knesset list
Going head-to-head: Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene the Likud Central Committee in the coming days in a bid to pass a decision that will allow all Likud members, and not only the Central Committee, to choose the party list for the Knesset.
Currently, only the 3,000 or so Central Committee members are eligible to vote in the Knesset list primaries.
On Monday, Netanyahu met with Knesset members and key activists to enlist their support for the move.
Netanyahu is aware that the public views the Likud Central Committee as the "root of all evil," in light of various scandals and fiascos associated with the Committee in recent years, and has decided to confront the problem head-on.
In the coming days, Bibi plans to convene the Central Committee and win the majority needed to strip the committee of much of its power to elect Likud candidates and transfer that power to all party members.
Netanyahu's office said the proposed move is "an important reform that will refresh Likud's image and will boost confidence in the Likud."
Meanwhile, Ynet learned that the decision to change the Likud primaries voting procedure ahead of the general elections stems from internal Likud polls that show the move would increase public support for the party.
The proposed change, which will allow the approximately 120,000 party members to take party in the primaries vote, has several advantages. It can prevent internal deal-making, vote-buying, and curb the election of unqualified candidates.
On the other hand, such change also has inherent disadvantages, the most serious one being the high cost each primaries candidate will have to endure in order to reach all eligible voters.
