Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party will hold its internal primaries on August 4 after the party’s Constitution Committee voted unanimously on Sunday to postpone the contest by one week from its previously scheduled date of July 28, while leaving unresolved a dispute over how much control the premier will have over the party’s Knesset slate.

The battle over the primary rules reflects Netanyahu’s wider effort to secure unprecedented influence over Likud’s Knesset slate ahead of the national election set to be held by October 27, while broadening the party’s appeal beyond its traditional activist base. But the push has run into resistance from influential figures within his own party, exposing a rare internal power struggle over who will shape Likud’s future parliamentary lineup.

Netanyahu is reportedly demanding 11 reserved slots within the top 40 places on the list, including five in the top ten, allowing him to install handpicked candidates.

Constitution Committee chairman and minister Haim Katz and veteran lawmaker David Bitan, however, oppose this demand and are reportedly only willing to grant the premier up to six reserved slots within the top 30 places. No agreement has yet been reached, and the Constitution Committee is expected to decide the issue in the coming weeks.

The dispute follows Netanyahu’s earlier threat to scrap the primaries altogether and instead have a selection committee choose the party’s slate unless he was granted the authority to handpick ten candidates in the top 35 spots.

The proposal appears to have been shelved after fierce opposition from Katz, Bitan and other senior Likud figures, with Bitan last week petitioning the party’s internal court to block any........

© The Times of Israel