The Likud movement's internal tribunal has rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to allow the party to cancel its primaries in the event of a security escalation or emergency.
In its ruling, the tribunal determined that there is no place for a mechanism allowing the blanket cancellation of the primaries. Instead, it said that in the event of a complex security situation, the appropriate response would be to postpone the vote or make arrangements for it to be held electronically.
"There is no place to leave even the slightest opening for the cancellation of the primaries in advance," the judges wrote. "This is not the way of the Likud movement. Likud is not a one-man party, and it will lose its vitality if it becomes one."
According to the ruling, the party constitution already grants the election committee the authority to change the date of the vote due to exceptional circumstances, with a state of emergency potentially constituting sufficient grounds for such a postponement.
The tribunal further instructed the party's institutions to prepare in advance for the possibility of electronic voting should emergency conditions prevent members from reaching polling stations.
Although such a voting method is not currently anchored in the party constitution, the tribunal ruled that it is "a thousand times" preferable to undermining the democratic process by canceling the vote altogether.
Addressing the legal implications, the judges explained that the Likud constitution constitutes a binding contract between the movement and its registered members, as well as among the members themselves. Accordingly, failure to hold the primaries would amount to a fundamental breach of that agreement.
Alongside its decision on the primaries, the tribunal approved additional amendments to the party regulations, including provisions allowing candidates elected to reserved slots to be moved up the party list, as well as granting authority to place a candidate from the National Right faction in a designated slot.