The long-awaited Likud Knesset primaries, in which the party is to choose its Knesset candidates for the upcoming January elections, finally began this afternoon shortly after 4 PM, after having been briefly postponed by a court order. The Tel Aviv District Court ordered the postponement this morning in response to a petition by Likud candidate Mordechai Halperin. Halperin claimed that the party had unjustly prevented a vote on proposed changes in the system for ranking the candidates.
Party officials, in a hasty meeting following the court decision, decided that the Central Committee would in fact vote on the proposed rule changes, and the vote was in fact held at noon today. Electronic results showed the slimmest of margins in favor of rejecting the changes, and a manual recount was ordered. When initial results seemed to indicate the same results but by a wider majority, the original results were officially accepted, and elections for the Knesset candidates began a short while afterwards.
Polling stations for the Likud Central Committee's nearly 3,000 members will be open until midnight at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Grounds, which has taken on a carnival atmosphere. Arutz-7's Kobi Sela reports from the scene that the 145 candidates for the approximately 40 "realistic" seats that the party may be expected to win are campaigning with songs, booths, hats, slogans, and various other attention-getting gimmicks. Ruhama Avraham, for instance, has hired stilt-walking clowns to advertise her candidacy, while Penina Rosenblum settled for bicycle-riders. A ditty featuring the name of Yoram Ettinger is being loudly played over and over, while MK Michael Eitan is just as loudly replaying his Knesset speeches for the "benefit" of the Central Committee members.
The voters will each choose 15 names. The first 18 slots on the party's Knesset list are reserved for "national list" candidates - including Sharon and Netanyahu who have already been granted the first two positions - while the remaining positions are for candidates chosen according to sector or geographical location. For instance, the Judea/Samaria/Gaza slot is being contested by Moshe Feiglin of Jewish Leadership, Yechiel Chazan and Chaim Yeitiv; the winner among them is guaranteed the 34th position no matter how far behind they may trail incumbent MKs who do not make it into the top 18. Many currently-serving MKs are thus not expected to be chosen. Some see the original refusal to vote on the proposed changes as a "snatch" by the Sharon camp, designed to rid the Knesset of MKs who support Netanyahu.
Party officials, in a hasty meeting following the court decision, decided that the Central Committee would in fact vote on the proposed rule changes, and the vote was in fact held at noon today. Electronic results showed the slimmest of margins in favor of rejecting the changes, and a manual recount was ordered. When initial results seemed to indicate the same results but by a wider majority, the original results were officially accepted, and elections for the Knesset candidates began a short while afterwards.
Polling stations for the Likud Central Committee's nearly 3,000 members will be open until midnight at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Grounds, which has taken on a carnival atmosphere. Arutz-7's Kobi Sela reports from the scene that the 145 candidates for the approximately 40 "realistic" seats that the party may be expected to win are campaigning with songs, booths, hats, slogans, and various other attention-getting gimmicks. Ruhama Avraham, for instance, has hired stilt-walking clowns to advertise her candidacy, while Penina Rosenblum settled for bicycle-riders. A ditty featuring the name of Yoram Ettinger is being loudly played over and over, while MK Michael Eitan is just as loudly replaying his Knesset speeches for the "benefit" of the Central Committee members.
The voters will each choose 15 names. The first 18 slots on the party's Knesset list are reserved for "national list" candidates - including Sharon and Netanyahu who have already been granted the first two positions - while the remaining positions are for candidates chosen according to sector or geographical location. For instance, the Judea/Samaria/Gaza slot is being contested by Moshe Feiglin of Jewish Leadership, Yechiel Chazan and Chaim Yeitiv; the winner among them is guaranteed the 34th position no matter how far behind they may trail incumbent MKs who do not make it into the top 18. Many currently-serving MKs are thus not expected to be chosen. Some see the original refusal to vote on the proposed changes as a "snatch" by the Sharon camp, designed to rid the Knesset of MKs who support Netanyahu.