Likud primaries ballot boxes
Likud primaries ballot boxesFlash 90

A group including extreme left-wing elements convened a special meeting recently in which it presented its plan to take control of the Likud and its choice of candidates for the Knesset.

In a Channel 2 report broadcast Monday evening a number of left-wingers, some of them Meretz voters, stated that their plan was to use the same methods used by Moshe Feiglin and to canvass thousands of members who would influence via primaries the list of representatives chosen to serve as Likud Knesset members.

The leftists rejected claims that they were acting immorally since they did not intend to vote Likud on election day and maintained that they saw no need to influence Meretz since that party was functioning in accord with their wishes and they therefore wished to influence the choice of candidates who would be chosen by the Likud and promote candidates with a moderate left-wing outlook.

Other members of the group claimed that their goal was to turn the Likud into a party which maintains a liberal democracy in accordance with the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the Likud constitution.

On the internet site of the "New Likudniks" as they describe themselves, it is stated that "we will support the establishment of a Liberal Zionist government which will be able to fulfill the wishes of most members of the political center." It also stated that the group will work to "steadfastly maintain the rule of law and the status of the court" and will "prevent religious coercion while maintaining the freedom of religion for all religions and streams."

The Likud has yet to express its views on the trend which may ultimately damage the Likud if it reaches large sectors and achieves its goals.

At present three parties have adopted the primaries method: Likud, Zionist Union and the Jewish Home. During the last elections it was claimed that thousands of people joined the Likud and chose representatives for the primaries when they actually voted for the Jewish Home while others joined the Jewish Home and at the same time voted Likud.