Days Before Likud Primaries, Sitting Lawmakers Barred From District Slots

Just days before the Likud primaries, the Tel Aviv District Court on Monday rejected a petition by Likud Knesset member Afif Amin Abed, leaving in place the ruling of the party’s high court. In practical terms, current and former Knesset members and ministers will not be allowed to run in district-reserved slots in the August 17, 2026 primaries, and may run only on the national list.

Judge Yaakov Shaked’s ruling was more nuanced than its bottom line. While the court accepted some of Abed’s broader arguments and criticized aspects of the Likud tribunal’s reasoning, it declined to overturn the conclusion that the vote allowing elected officials to run in district slots had not been lawfully approved because of flaws found in the election process and vote count.

The matter began on July 27, 2026, when the Likud convention approved an amendment to the party’s election rules intended to allow Knesset members and ministers to run in district-reserved slots as well. The proposal passed by an especially narrow margin of just five votes, out of roughly 3,500 voters. But after the vote, allegations emerged of irregularities and serious problems in the vote count and the integrity of the election, and Likud’s high court decided to invalidate the decision.

In his ruling, Judge Shaked distinguished between the broader claim that allowing elected officials to run in district slots harms equality and the question of whether the Likud convention vote itself was properly conducted.

On the broader issue, the judge accepted Abed’s position. He ruled that the public name recognition enjoyed by a Knesset member or minister does not, in itself, undermine equal opportunity. He also ruled that the party’s internal tribunal does not have the authority to intervene in the election policy set by the Likud convention. In doing so, the court criticized the party tribunal’s underlying reasoning.

But when it came to the integrity of the vote itself, the picture was different. The judge decided not to intervene in the majority finding of the Likud tribunal’s judges—Kleiner, Bem, and Elbaz—who found serious flaws in the vote-counting process.

Among other issues, it emerged that five envelopes went missing at a polling station in Rishon LeZion—the exact number of votes by which the proposal passed. In addition, invalid ballots were counted in Be’er Sheva and Kfar Saba, and discrepancies were found in the number of voters in Jerusalem, Ramla, and Acre.

The judge wrote in his ruling: "When three members of the panel reach a majority conclusion that the flaws in the election and counting process lead to the conclusion that the proposal was not lawfully adopted, this is not the exceptional case that warrants intervention in such a finding."

Shaked stressed that given the razor-thin margin by which the proposal passed, its potential implications could not be ignored. When the majority totaled just five votes, and five envelopes disappeared at one polling station, it was impossible to determine that the announced result reflected a proper process.

Therefore, although the court rejected the position that the mere candidacy of Knesset members and ministers in district slots harms equality, it did not overturn the practical outcome reached by the Likud tribunal. The invalidation of the vote remains in effect because of the flaws found in the election process.

Following the decision, the district-reserved slots in the upcoming primaries will effectively remain a "nature reserve" for new candidates, while current and former Knesset members and ministers will have to run on the national list.

After the ruling, MK Abed announced that he intends to appeal to the Supreme Court: "The district court’s decision is unjust and tramples on the vote of Likud convention members."