{"id":1007929,"date":"2026-08-18T04:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T04:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1007929\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T04:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T04:36:22","slug":"likud-ministers-back-netanyahus-reserved-slots-in-primaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1007929\/","title":{"rendered":"Likud ministers back Netanyahu’s reserved slots in primaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Likud ministers<\/a> in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government backed the premier\u2019s eight reserved slots in the party\u2019s list that he would fill at the Likud primaries on Monday, while also characterizing the event as a celebration of the party\u2019s democratic nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to build a good team beside and behind Prime Minister Netanyahu,\u201d Agriculture and Food Security Minister Avi Dichter told The Jerusalem Post at the International Convention Center polling station in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

The reserved spots<\/a> have created tensions in recent weeks as they represent a significant proportion of the 22 seats the Likud<\/a> is projected to win in the October election.<\/p>\n

Should that projection hold, it would mean that only 14 seats on the Likud\u2019s list in the Knesset would be filled by members elected by registered Likud voters.<\/p>\n

Even that, though, would be unique in Israeli politics, as the Likud is one of only a handful of parties to hold primaries<\/a>, and the only party to allow all its registered members to cast a vote.<\/p>\n

\"LikudLikud primaries held on Monday. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)Ministers defend Netanyahu\u2019s reserved slots<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dichter and other ministers in the party spoke to the Post at the ICC as they headed to cast their ballots. Approximately 140,000 registered Likud members around Israel were eligible to cast votes for candidates at polling stations around the country.<\/p>\n

Dichter stated that this year\u2019s primaries had generated a different level of enthusiasm, with turnout among members appearing \u201chigher and stronger,\u201d and voters arriving with \u201ca wide smile on their face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi also defended Netanyahu\u2019s reserved slots, stating they \u201care nothing new. They existed last time as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few more now,\u201d he said, \u201cbut they allow the prime minister, who has to coordinate the entire system, including alliances between parties and preserving the bloc, to continue leading Likud to victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Karhi argued that the primaries were still democratic, noting that \u201cbeyond the reserved slots, which are something the prime minister needs to be given the ability to use, everyone else competes in the primaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a celebration of democracy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Likud ministers call primaries a celebration of democracy\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transportation Minister Miri Regev also defended the democratic nature of the primaries, echoing Karhi\u2019s characterization of the event.<\/p>\n

While also calling it a \u201ccelebration of democracy,\u201d she indicated that Netanyahu\u2019s reserved slots were less democratic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that with the reserved slots, half of the list is democratic, and half of the list consists of reserved slots.\u201d
Culture Minister Miki Zohar told the Post that he supported Netanyahu \u201call the way\u201d and was not bothered by the reserved slots that were up to the prime minister\u2019s discretion to fill.<\/p>\n

He also said, regarding lower recent polling that shows the Likud receiving approximately 22 seats rather than the 32 seats that the party currently has, that he \u00a0believed \u201cby the elections, the results will be different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll grow stronger. The polls never flatter us, but when the real results come in, we always deliver a strong result, and that\u2019s what will happen this time as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Likud ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government backed the premier\u2019s eight reserved slots in the party\u2019s list…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1007930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[372,99,310396,46360,341004,359965,50],"class_list":["post-1007929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-israel","tag-israel-elections-2026","tag-likud","tag-likud-party","tag-likud-primaries","tag-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117114661014586906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1007930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1007929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1007929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}