Likud central committee members will vote on Wednesday whether or not to give Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon additional powers as head of the central committee. If support goes his way at the party's convention, Danon will be able to call votes on matters including diplomacy and security. Danon turned into Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's most active adversary in the party since the last election, even taking the prime minister to the Supreme Court over the central committee's power, but the two came to a compromise about the date and content of the Likud convention. The committee is scheduled to vote to allow Danon to call the central committee two to three times a year to vote on “ideological matters,” such as security, diplomacy and economics. As such, Danon plans to call a meeting on diplomatic matters within 60 days, and socioeconomic issues within 120, as well as a meeting on ways to strengthen the party and its institutions. Another meeting will determine the way the party's list for the Knesset is chosen. Currently, the procedure is an open primary for all of the party's members, but many central committee members would prefer to revert to the vote being limited only to them. Sources close to Netanyahu said the matter is still under review in the party's court. In addition, the central committee will vote on whether to allow itself to change the Likud constitution by a simple majority vote. However, this will not apply if the party wants to unite with another party. On Thursday, the central committee plans to vote on changes to the party's constitution, including requiring the committee to be called at least once every six months.
