The Supreme Court on Thursday evening held a hearing regarding the disqualification of Idit Silman and Amichai Chikli from running in the 2022 elections as part of the Likud Party.
The Meretz Party had petitioned to reverse the decision of the chairman of the Central Elections Committee to allow Silman to run as part of the Likud in the upcoming elections.
During the hearing, the judges - led by Supreme Court President Esther Hayut - suggested that Meretz withdraw its petition and even explained, "There is no point in it, we will not descend into the political arena."
The petitioners asked for time to think about and ultimately decided to withdraw the petition, which guarantees Silman's candidacy and her being part of the next Knesset after she was placed in the 16th spot on the slate of the Likud, which wins more than 30 seats in the polls.
Earlier, the panel of nine judges discussed the appeal filed by the Balad Party against the Central Election Committee’s decision to disqualify its candidacy for the 25th Knesset. A decision will be made by Sunday.
Balad was disqualified on Thursday by the Central Elections Committee by a majority of nine members who voted in favor (representatives of the National Unity, Yisrael Beytenu, Derech Eretz and Yamina parties) against five who opposed (representatives of Meretz, the Joint List and Ra'am parties). Members of the committee who represent the bloc of right-wing parties which supports Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu did not participate in the discussion and vote, and Yesh Atid’s representatives did not take part as well.
Shortly before the meeting of the Central Elections Committee, Defense Minister Benny Gantz decided that the representatives of the National Unity Party would vote in favor of disqualifying Balad. "There is no place in the Israeli House of Representatives for those who act in extremes against the state," Gantz said at the time.
The Netanyahu bloc did not support the disqualification of Balad so that the party would run in the elections, not pass the electoral threshold - and thus would lead to a waste of votes for the leftist camp.