Court Halts Likud Vote on Netanyahu's Reserved Slate Positions

A Lod District Court issued a last-minute injunction Thursday halting a Likud Central Committee vote on rules for the party’s Knesset slate. About 4,500 committee members had been due to vote by secret ballot on a Haim Katz-backed plan granting party leader Benjamin Netanyahu eight reserved positions, including six in the top 20. The petition argued that an alternative proposal approved for consideration had been omitted from the ballot despite a Likud tribunal ruling that both plans be presented. The vote was stopped minutes before polling was due to begin, pending inclusion of the alternative.