Rebel ex-MK Chikli Banned from Running for Likud
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On Wednesday, the Central Elections Committee disqualified Yamina rebel and former lawmaker Amichai Chikli from running in the upcoming election on the candidate slate of the Likud party.
Meanwhile, fellow Yamina MK Idit Silman was allowed to retain her spot. A spokesman for Likud said that the decision would be appealed by the party to the High Court of Justice.
This is considered a standard practice of election cycle after the rulings of the Central Elections Committee.
According to the spokesman, the decision was an absurd one and a serious blow to democracy.
Chikli’s dilemma
It was in April of this year that Chikli had been ousted from the Yamina party, which was ten months after he had bucked the party when he refused to vote in favor of the coalition that it was leading.
He had resigned from his seat in the Knesset in July after he made a deal with the Jerusalem District Court that helped him avoid sanctions in the upcoming elections.
Chikli responded to the move to ban him from participating in the elections, calling it bizarre one and an injustice.
Speaking of the deal he had made with the court in July, Chikli said that they had reached a compromise and he had been asked to resign.
He added that he had taken a spot on Likud’s state in accordance with that deal. He added that he would have formed an independent party, had he thought he would be disqualified.
The consequences
The former Yamina MK has been granted the 14th spot on the Knesset roster of the Likud party, which he received from the leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
It is one of Netanyahu’s three discretionary spots and if the disqualification is not reversed, it would mean that one of his placements would be nullified.
This is because September 15th was the last day for finalizing the candidate slates, which means that a different politician cannot be placed by the Likud leader in the realistic position.
The petition
The petition for barring Chikli from the race had been filed by Meretz, as the left-wing party claimed that he had not resigned in time after he left Yamina.
Therefore, the party said that he should be sanctioned from running in the November elections with a sitting Knesset party.
The argument was accepted by the committee and Justice Yitzhak Amit, the chairman, said that Chikli had taken 50 days after his ouster from Yamina to file a petition in court for relief.
According to Amit, this much time was not deemed reasonable, so his resignation agreement was not valid.
Chikli was not the only former Yamina lawmaker who resulted in the coalition’s collapse and earned a spot on Likud’s roster.
Former Yamina lawmaker Silman had also gotten a realistic spot awarded by Netanyahu at number 16, putting her two behind Chikli.
Silman was the one who did the most damage to the coalition, as her resignation in April as the coalition whip and from her position saw it lose majority.
