The order in which Herut candidates will appear on the party’s list for the July 23 Knesset elections was decided by the Herut Central Committee in secret balloting here today. The list will be headed by Premier Yitzhak Shamir whose leadership of the party was affirmed by the Central Committee in voting last month.
The first three candidates, following Shamir, are Deputy Premier David Levy, Defense Minister Moshe Arens and former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon who is a Minister-Without-Portfolio in the present government.
Sharon, probably the most controversial figure in Herut, placed ninth on the preliminary list selected by the Central Committee earlier this week, after an unexpectedly strong challenge to Shamir’s leadership last month. He seems assured now of a major role in the party’s deliberations.
The remaining top seven Herut candidates, in order of their selection, are Finance Minister Yigal Cohen-Orgad; former Finance Minister Yoram Aridor who is the party’s Secretary General; Eliahu Ben-Elissar, chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee; and Moshe Katzav.
The Herut candidates will be dove-tailed with the candidates elected by the Liberal Party to form the Likud list that will be presented to the voters on July 23. This will be done according to a formula established in 1965 when Herut and the Liberals joined forces to form the Gahal bloc which later became Likud. The formula has been challenged by some Herut activists who claim it gives the Liberals representation out of proportion to their electoral strength.
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