Feiglin - Surprised by court's decision
Photo: Tehila Bramson
Likud primaries may be postponed following Feiglin appeal
Internal party court accepts claim of Moshe Feiglin camp only central committee eligible to change primary election system, however senior Likud officials warn move puts already tight schedule at risk
The Likud primary elections, which are set to be held on December 8th, may be postponed to a later date. This following the decision of the party's internal court on Monday to accept the appeal made by Moshe Feiglin, according to which any change to the Likud's primaries process must be approved by the central committee.
Senior Likud officials noted that the reason for the possible postponement would be the tight schedule the Likud may find itself in if the central committee is indeed forced to convene.
Two weeks ago the central committee authorized the primary election system. But then the party's internal court ruled to allow the Likud's constitutional committee to discuss the proposal to increase the number of candidates each voter can choose in the primaries.
Senior Likud officials sharply attacked their party's chairman, Benjamin Netanyahu, alleging he was behind the move to change the voting forms. While the proposal itself was eventually squashed, the constitutional committee decided to allow the party's chairman to take the boxes for immigrant candidates out of the national list and separate it into a different vote.
By doing so, the Likud officials said, the chances of Asia Antov, Feiglin's immigrant candidate, to be elected to a realistic place on the Likud's Knesset roster would be significantly compromised.
Now Netanyahu must decide whether to convene the central committee to complete the move, or drop it and leave the immigrant representatives on the national list.
"We were very surprised, I greatly appreciate the court's ruling," Feiglin told Ynet following the announcement. "The battle Netanyahu is waging against me isn't a political one; it is a struggle between the Ashkenazi-secular-leftist elite that runs the country, which Netanyahu seeks to be a part of, and the Jewish alternative that is developing within the Likud."
