42 Likud MKs could lose their jobs

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 5 January 2005 | GIL HOFFMAN

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Jan. 5, 2005 5:41 | Updated Jan. 5, 2005 19:13
42 Likud MKs could lose their jobs
By GIL HOFFMAN

Nearly half the Likud's 42 MKs and ministers could lose their jobs if the Likud central committee approves a proposal to reserve slots 25 to 35 on the party's Knesset list for newcomers.

The proposal guarantees additional reserved slots for representatives of different regions, women, an immigrant and a minority candidate.

The committee is set to convene on Wednesday night at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds to discuss amendments to the Likud constitution and hear speeches from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Likud leaders. Polls will be open all day on Thursday at the fairground for voting on the amendments.

One amendment that is expected to pass would ban any Likud MK from running for re-election with the party if they vote in the Knesset to take away the power of central committee members to elect MKs. A controversial proposal to ban MKs who vote against the decisions of the central committee was tabled.

The central committee is expected to decide that newcomers to the party will have to wait two years to run for the Likud central committee and three years for local councils and the Knesset. The party chairman and the secretariat will be able to bypass the rule for an exceptional candidate like an IDF chief of general staff.

But Likud newcomers will still be able to vote for the party chairman, so the next prime minister will likely be decided by whoever registers more people to join the Likud. Moshe Feiglin's Jewish Leadership group is trying to sign up as many people as possible to oust Sharon from office, while Sharon's son, MK Omri Sharon is trying to do the opposite.

The Likud will also vote to finalize its merger with Yisrael Ba'aliya.

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Interesting headline. Likud has only 40 MKs. 42 is members of Knesset *plus* ministers who are not MKs. All of them will NOT lose their jobs. Some will if the proposals pass. Is that headline a distortion or what? Perhaps the person who crafted it was trained at CNN.

Of course, it COULD BE completely accurate if you remember that 42 is the answer to "the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything".

Anyway, could anyone imagine the Republicans or Democrats in the U.S. passing a party rule that would effectively bounce up to half their Congress-critters? Methinks not.