Likud legal advisor warns: "Holding the primaries is in danger"

The legal advisor of the Likud party, Adv. Ilan Bombach, filed an urgent request to the District Court to advance the hearing on the petition of MK Afif Abed to this coming Sunday, August 9, and to issue a ruling on the same day. The request claims that a delay in the decision could significantly harm the preparations for holding the Likud primaries on time.

A few minutes after the request was filed, the District Court rejected Adv. Ilan Bombach's request to advance the hearing on the petition. This means that at this stage the hearing date remains as is, while in Likud they warn that the continued uncertainty could make it difficult to prepare for the primaries on time.

According to the request, the Likud primaries are expected to take place on August 17, and the uncertainty surrounding the rules of competition could affect the candidates, the submission of candidacies, and the organizational, budgetary, and legal preparations for holding the elections.

Bombach argued that the lawsuit was filed following a ruling by the party's Supreme Court, which he said was given without authority, while interfering with the decisions of the Likud committee that approved the amendment to the primary election system.

The request states:

"Every additional day in which the dispute regarding the validity of the ruling is not resolved increases the risk that the uncertainty will turn into chaos harmful to all concerned, the economic cost of which is enormous."

Adv. Bombach further warned that leaving the hearing date as is "puts the holding of the primaries on time in danger," and could force Likud to make significant changes to the format and procedures of the elections, at a financial cost of millions of shekels.

At the end of the request, the court was asked to order the advancement of the hearing to this coming Sunday, and to deliver its ruling on the same day.