The Yesh Atid party announced on Saturday that it will convene. for the first time since its establishment a decade ago, a party conference in which elections will be held for the party leadership.
The event, which will be held on January 4, will be attended by about a thousand of Yesh Atid’s members - including field activists, regional directors, chiefs of staff, heads of local authorities and their deputies and faction leaders in local councils serving on behalf of the party - alongside with its Knesset members and ministers.
Applicants can apply until December 21.
The party will also publish new bylaws that will stipulate that the party’s slate for the Knesset will continue to be composed by a committee and not in a democratic election process.
The bylaws state that "the committee for selecting the slate for the Knesset will be responsible for the selection of the party members nominated on its behalf in the list of candidates for the Knesset elections, as well as their order in the list."
They further state that “the party chairman will have the right to include in the slate candidates who were not selected by the Knesset list selection committee (reserved spots), provided that the number of reserved spots does not exceed two for every ten candidates, and a total of six candidates up to the 30th spot on the slate. The party chairman will be able to reserve as a candidate even those who are not members of the party."
About nine months ago, Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid said in an interview with Reshet Bet radio that he intends to hold elections for the position of party chairman after he was severely criticized for failing to do so.
One of the main critics was former MK Ofer Shelah, who was not included in the Yesh Atid slate in the most recent Knesset elections. Shelah was previously one of the people closest to Lapid but had criticized him for not having had democratic procedures in the party over the years.