Kadima MK Ze'ev Elkin, who was a constant thorn in the side of the party's leadership, announced Tuesday that he will run for the next Knesset with the Likud in an effort to harm Kadima Leader Tzipi Livni's election chances.
Elkin earned the wrath of Kadima's leaders when he was the only MK in the party who voted against Shimon Peres for the presidency. He burned his bridges on his way out of Kadima last week with a strongly-worded letter to Livni in which he accused her of shifting the party to the left of Meretz.
"I could have easily been reelected to an immigrant slot in Kadima, but I decided the best way to prevent Livni from becoming prime minister was to strengthen the Likud," Elkin said. "I know it's hard to compete in a new party just two weeks after joining. It's a big risk, but I decided to take it," he said.
Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu actively pursued Elkin and ensured that his party's bylaws would allow him to run for the two realistic slots on its list - at 21 and 30 - that are reserved for immigrant candidates, even though he was already an MK.
Netanyahu decided on Tuesday to hold a separate vote in the party's December 8 primary for its immigrant candidates. The Likud law committee decided late Monday night to allow Netanyahu to make that change instead of expanding the number of candidates each member could vote for beyond the current 10, as several top party activists had wanted and the Likud's MKs had vigorously opposed.
