Exclusive: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent the past several hours working to rally support among members of the Likud Central Committee ahead of tomorrow's expected vote at the party convention on proposed changes to the primary election system and the party's candidate list.
As part of the effort, Likud Central Committee members received personal phone calls from Netanyahu, who asked them to support the proposal.
The Central Committee is expected to vote on a decision by the party's Constitution Committee, which approved this week a proposal to change the primary system, electoral districts, and reserved slots on the party list.
Under the proposal, Netanyahu would receive seven reserved positions on the Likud Knesset list-three in the top ten, three more in the second group of ten, and one in the third group of ten.
The proposal also stipulates that ministers and Knesset members will be allowed to run within the district and sectoral frameworks. In addition, the prime minister would be authorized, if necessary, to make changes to the districts and reserved slots in positions 29 through 33 on the party list.
Meanwhile, several Likud ministers and Knesset members have been working in recent days to block the proposal's approval, arguing that it could harm their chances of being elected in the primaries. The vote at the Likud convention will be conducted by secret ballot.
One Central Committee member who spoke with Arutz Sheva said, "Netanyahu sounded under pressure ahead of tomorrow's vote."
Alongside the vote on changing the primary system, Minister Haim Katz is also expected to bring forward a proposal to merge the Shephelah District (Judean Foothills) with the Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem District, despite a ruling by Likud's internal court that the districts should not be merged.
The party's court argues that the Shephelah District and the Judea and Samaria District are unrelated, but Katz is seeking to have the matter decided by the Likud convention.