Likud’s Constitution Committee on Monday approved a plan to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the power to select eight candidates on the party’s slate, including three in the top 10 and six in the top 20, in a compromise with committee chairman Haim Katz, among the premier’s efforts to increase his own influence over the upcoming party primaries.

The compromise would reserve spots 3, 5, 9, 11, 15, 18, 26, and 31 on the party’s Knesset list for Netanyahu’s handpicked candidates, after the premier previously insisted that at least 10 spots be reserved for contenders of his choice.

The deal significantly increased Netanyahu’s power over the Likud slate. During the party’s last round of primaries in 2022, Netanyahu was allowed to handpick only three candidates among the first 30 spots on the list, with the highest being the 14th.

Polls have projected that Likud’s number of seats after the elections, on October 27, will be in the low to mid-20s, out of the Knesset’s total 120.

The compromise is not yet official and the Likud Central Committee will vote on whether to approve the plan Thursday, Hebrew outlets reported.

The primaries, scheduled for August 17, have........

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