The National Religious Party is holding a dramatic party convention today, at which several historic decisions are slated to be made.
The party's leadership and Knesset representation - six MKs, including its two government ministers, party leader Effie Eitam and Zevulun Orlev - agreed on three major procedural changes that they hope will march the party forward. These are: guaranteeing at least 10% of the Central Committee seats to the "young generation," between the ages of 17-30; increasing the membership of the Central Committee from 1,000 to 1,500; and, most significantly, conducting primaries among the entire party membership for the party leader.
MK Sha'ul Yahalom explained to Arutz-7 today that though in general he doesn't like the system of primaries, "with great hesitations, I agree that in order to infuse new life into the party - which has not had public input for over ten years - we have to try something like this." MK Nissan Slomiansky said that the assumption is that people who have a hand in choosing the party leader will be much more inclined to vote for the party in the national elections. Chaim Falk, chairman of the NRP's Young Generation Faction, admitted that conducting primaries would slightly favor his own choice for party leader, Minister Eitam, over challenger Minister Orlev. Explaining the intention to reserve slots for the young, Falk noted that fully 28% of Israeli voters are between 17 and 27 years old.
The party's leadership and Knesset representation - six MKs, including its two government ministers, party leader Effie Eitam and Zevulun Orlev - agreed on three major procedural changes that they hope will march the party forward. These are: guaranteeing at least 10% of the Central Committee seats to the "young generation," between the ages of 17-30; increasing the membership of the Central Committee from 1,000 to 1,500; and, most significantly, conducting primaries among the entire party membership for the party leader.
MK Sha'ul Yahalom explained to Arutz-7 today that though in general he doesn't like the system of primaries, "with great hesitations, I agree that in order to infuse new life into the party - which has not had public input for over ten years - we have to try something like this." MK Nissan Slomiansky said that the assumption is that people who have a hand in choosing the party leader will be much more inclined to vote for the party in the national elections. Chaim Falk, chairman of the NRP's Young Generation Faction, admitted that conducting primaries would slightly favor his own choice for party leader, Minister Eitam, over challenger Minister Orlev. Explaining the intention to reserve slots for the young, Falk noted that fully 28% of Israeli voters are between 17 and 27 years old.