"In a democratic political movement," Ariel Sharon thundered, "there must be democratic mechanisms that are real - I emphasize, real! [applause] - for supervision and for balance. And it cannot be that a Party Chairman - and I don't mean any specific one, because I would have said this about any Party Chairman - it cannot be that the chairman of a party becomes the one and only party institution that makes decisions for the Likud, and all the other institutions [here he was interrupted by applause and cheering, "Arik, Arik!", but he was apparently intending to say that the other institutions become irrelevant]...."



The above quote is from a speech delivered by Ariel Sharon at the Likud Convention of May, 1993 in Tel Aviv. He was responding to a proposal by newly-elected Likud party leader Binyamin Netanyahu to amend the party constitution to grant extended authority to the party leader, at the expense of the Likud institutions.