Netanyahu considers reserving a New Hope candidate and thus pushing Barkat out

With 98% of the votes counted in the Likud primaries, Nir Barkat leads Ze'ev Elkin by a few hundred votes for the last realistic spot at 24th place. However, the report says Netanyahu is considering reserving New Hope's Michel Buskila for the 24th spot, a move that would push Barkat to 32nd place and out of the Knesset, similar to the Feiglin precedent from 2009.

In the final stages of vote counting in the Likud primaries, the survival battle for the last realistic spot on the national list is reaching a boiling point. After 98 percent of the votes were counted, Minister Nir Barkat, who spent years at the top of the party, is falling to the third tier and is in a tight race against Ze'ev Elkin for the 24th spot, leading by only a few hundred votes. However, the report says the real threat to his place is not in the ballots: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a strategic reservation of New Hope's Michel Buskila, a Knesset member, for the 24th spot. Such a move bypassing the primaries would create a domino effect and push Barkat to the 32nd spot, an area that almost certainly means parting ways with the next Knesset. The report mentions the precedent from 2009, when Netanyahu invented a legal interpretation of the regulations to push Moshe Feiglin out of that exact slot, and notes that the scenario may repeat itself with a slight change.