Decline in Popularity Forces Smotrich to Cancel His Party's Primary Elections

SadaNews Translation - Israeli Finance Minister and head of the "Religious Zionism" party, Bezalel Smotrich, is preparing to propose a game-changing plan within his party by canceling the primary election system that has been in place since the party's establishment, replacing it with a closed mechanism for selecting candidates.

According to Channel 12, Smotrich will present today to the party center a plan that restricts the selection of Knesset members to an internal committee composed of 150 activists, instead of the 20,000 members who previously had the right to vote in the primaries.

This move comes amid early preparations for the upcoming elections, amidst troubling indications for the party in opinion polls, which show fluctuations in its popularity and a potential decline below the electoral threshold, prompting the party leadership to reconsider its organizational structure and electoral tools.