Settler group encourages double-voting in Likud

Justice Ministry finds 2,800 illegal redundancies in the two right-wing parties' membership.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Shevach Stern speaking at Migron rally 311 (photo credit: LAHAV HARKOV)
Shevach Stern speaking at Migron rally 311
(photo credit: LAHAV HARKOV)
The Nationalist Camp, an influential pressure group of Likud activists, encouraged Habayit Hayehudi members to vote in the Likud primary on Sunday, although it is illegal to be a member of two parties.
In an email to Shiloh residents, where National Camp leaders Natan Englesman and Shevach Stern reside, the two listed the candidates they think would best represent the interests of those who support and live in Judea and Samaria, such as Manhigut Yehudit leader Moshe Feiglin, Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, coalition chairman Ze’ev Elkin, MKs Tzipi Hotovely, Yariv Levin, Haim Katz and others.
“Even if you were a member of Likud until recently and moved to Habayit Hayehudi, there is a good chance that you still have the right to participate in [the primary] of the ruling party in the next Knesset,” the email reads.
It is illegal to be a member of more than one party and, according to the law, it is the individual’s responsibility to leave a party when he or she joins another.
The Justice Ministry compared lists of several political parties on October 28, and found that 2,800 people are members of both Likud and Habayit Hayehudi, according to a report by political blogger and former Ma’ariv reporter Tal Schneider. Another 500 were found to be members of both Likud and Labor.
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The ministry added that the names and identification numbers were sent to the political parties.
Englesman said he saw no problem with those who voted in the Habayit Hayehudi primary participating in Sunday’s Likud vote.
“I don’t see how it is illegal. These people have a chance to make a decision and vote. If they were Likud members in recent years, they have the right to vote,” he said.
The National Camp leader explained that someone who voted in the Habayit Hayehudi primary, but never left Likud, could cancel his membership in the former and vote in the latter’s primary.
“If the person makes that decision, they have the legal right to vote,” he added.
He did not respond to the fact that those people have broken the law for several months, regardless of their status on Sunday.