It’s been a long time since I wrote an election update so there’s a lot to say. I’m going to split this one into parts. Part 1 will discuss party lists, Part 2 will talk about candidate rows and part 3 will deal eith anything else. Anyway, here’s part 1.
Party Lists
First off, most parties have their lists now. Labour‘s Primary didn’t produce many surprises, with Shelly Yachimovich coming top and Stav Shaffir doing well. General Amos Yadlin joined the list too, as their Defence Minister candidate, after Shaul Mofaz decided not to join Labour.
In the Bayit Yehudi primary, a few of Naftali Bennett’s preferred candidates didn’t come high enough to be in realistic slots. Overall, the Bayit Yehudi list has several women in realistic spots, making the relative lack on the Likud list more apparent. The primary election was mired in complaints by candidates and nearly didn’t happen after a court injunction froze the election but then the injunction itself was vacated because the complainants didn’t pay the court fee. Despite one recount, some of the lower-placed candidates are still trying to take the whole process to court citing irregularities.
Likud had its own recounts following its primary two weeks ago. Two well-known figures, MK Tzipi Hotovely and former MK Avi Dichter, were fighting over the 20th spot on the Likud list. After a recount, Ms Hotoveli took the place and Mr Dichter was moved down into an unrealistic spot. He’s now also going to court to contest the recount.
Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu added General Yoav Galant, women’s campaigner Rachel Azarya and Ethiopian journalist Tzaga Malcho to his list, which has a good gender balance and a nice array of experts. It seems like he’s doing something similar to Yesh Atid last election.
Yesh Atid hasn’t published its list yet, but David Stern MK, a Tnua MK who was left out in the cold when Tzipi Livni teamed up with Labour, has joined the party.
In Yisrael Beiteinu, many of the existing Knesset members are out – David Rotem, Uzi Landau and Yair Shamir are gone – replaced by new names, with current MK Orly Levy becoming number 2 on the list. A friend of mine, Ashley Perry, is running at number 20 so good luck to him!
There’s little change in the Meretz list, which mainly chose existing or past MKs for its top spots.
Hadash had perhaps the biggest change after Chairman Mohammed Barakeh withdrew, leaving the way clear for Aimen Odeh to become the new Chair.