Likud central committee to choose between Netanyahu’s and Danon’s primary dates

The central committee will meet on November 9 for a discussion of socioeconomic issues, which also will include the vote on the primary date.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Danny Danon (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Danny Danon
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The Likud central committee will select the time for the Likud leadership primary since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Likud Central Committee chairman MK Danny Danon were unable to agree on a date Wednesday.
The central committee will meet on November 9 for a discussion of socioeconomic issues, which also will include the vote on the primary date.
Netanyahu would like to hold the primary as soon as possible, which would mean within 30 days of the meeting before the December 24 central committee conclave to vote on changes in the Likud constitution, including determining how the Likud candidates list for the next election will be voted in.
Danon, however, wants to hold the vote on January 28, having announced that as the primary date earlier this week without notifying Netanyahu in advance.
“We must keep the democratic values of the Likud,” Danon said following the meeting.
Netanyahu and Transportation Minister Israel Katz earlier this month, together, planned to hold the primary in late November or early December, as well as a vote at a central committee meeting that was supposed to take place last week.
However, Danon called the plan a “hijacking” and postponed the central committee meeting.
“I understand the prime minister’s request to make the election for the head of the Likud earlier, but we should not act like we’re panicking by setting a date hastily,” Danon said on Sunday. “We must allow the candidates to prepare for the primary appropriately so that democracy will be done and seen.”