The Democrats Party finalized its Knesset slate on Monday after more than 97,000 of its registered members voted in internal primaries to determine which candidates would be on the party’s list ahead of the upcoming elections.
Party chairperson Yair Golan remained in first place. Current Democrats MK Naama Lazimi secured the second slot on the list. She was followed by fellow Democrats MKs Gilad Kariv in third place and MK Efrat Rayten in fourth.
The fifth through 10th slots went to social and political activist Yaya Fink, former Meretz MK Gaby Lasky, social activist and reservist Omri Ronen, former Meretz MK Michal Rozin, judicial reform protest leader Moshe Radman, and Arab Israeli activist Soumaya Bashir.
The voting reached an 86% turnout, the party said, after the primaries were held. The large group of 112,000 of its registered members was eligible to cast votes virtually for candidates throughout the day.
The left-wing Democrats are one of the core parties in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the elections, set for October 27. The party was established in 2024 by the merging of the Labor and Meretz parties.
Golan was selected at the time to lead the party.
Voting opened for registered members at 9 a.m. By the afternoon, the party stated that approximately 63% of its members, which totaled 70,834 people, had already cast their votes to select the slate.
“The high turnout demonstrates that the value of intra-party democracy is strong and stable,” the Democrats stated.
Parties are not required to hold primaries in Israel, and only a few do so.
Each registered member of the party was permitted to vote for between six and eight candidates out of the 51 contenders competing for spots on the Democrats’ slate.
The Democrats said the list would incorporate gender parity through a zipper system alternating between women and men, while also guaranteeing representation for Meretz representatives, the rural sector, and minority communities.
The party described the slate as reflecting a broad cross-section of Israeli society.
Democrats party features IDF officers, Arabs, LGBTQ+ members
The candidates included 17 leaders involved in protest movements and public activism, 12 former IDF officers, 11 candidates with backgrounds in the civil service, 19 women, nine candidates under the age of 45, eight former Knesset members, four candidates from the Arab community, three from the Druze community, and two members of the LGBTQ community.
Kariv opened the day at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, where he spoke about Democrats Party members who had demonstrated there throughout the Israel-Hamas War, calling for a deal to secure the release of the hostages held captive by Hamas after the October 7, 2023, attacks.
“We are bringing the protest into government. We carried out a heroic protest; now we will bring about a historic change,” Kariv added.
He and Lazimi also criticized Netanyahu’s recent attempts to change the Likud’s system for primaries to allow the premier to have more control over who is in the top spots of the list.
There have also been reports that Netanyahu has been considering canceling the Likud primaries entirely.
“The recent reports of Netanyahu’s attempts to cancel the Likud primaries show that the Democrats are the true major democratic party in Israel,” Kariv said.
Golan said at the opening of the party’s primaries that they were “a celebration of Israel’s democracy.”
“This is the time for the public to go out and vote. Only a strong Democrats team in the Knesset and in the next government can save the country and restore to Israel the security, democracy, and hope that it so desperately needs,” the Democrats Party leader added.
Democrats primary conducted digitally for first time
The party’s primaries were conducted virtually for the first time, with voting available via mobile phones and computers, through “a secure digital system” that will be open throughout the day.
The Democrats noted more than 114,000 people have joined the party in total, calling the recent wave of additions “an unprecedented democratic surge.”
This is the highest membership it has had since the 1990s.