Above: Dozens of community members rally outside Likud’s
Tel Aviv headquarters on Sunday in protest of party’s decision to
disqualify Ethiopian candidate chosen for one of immigrant slots
on its Knesset list. (Photo: Avi Cohen/Ynetnews)
The Jerusalem Post
By GIL HOFFMAN
Dec 23, 2008
The Likud’s internal court decided Monday to restore Ethiopian-born Aleli Admasu to the 28th slot on the party’s Knesset slate that is reserved for an immigrant, a week after the party’s election committee replaced him with Russian-born Vladimir Shklar.
The committee had decided that Admasu wasn’t eligible for the immigrant slot because he had made aliya in 1983, two years before the year established by the committee as the earliest date of immigration for a candidate to still be considered a new immigrant.
But the court ruled that Admasu had received the necessary permission before the December 8 primary to run for an immigrant slot and that he had not tried to evade the party’s rules by seeking the slot.
Admasu said he was pleased by the decision and that “justice had been done” for the Ethiopian community in Israel.
Shklar vowed to appeal to the Tel Aviv District Court, where “real judges” would rule on the matter.
Kadima MK Shlomo Mula, who was elected to the 19th position on his party’s list on Wednesday without needing a reserved slot, said the court’s decision did not change the statement he made last week about the Likud being “an Ashkenazi, elitist party.”
Mula said he was happy for Admasu and that he wanted to see as many Ethiopian immigrants as possible in the Knesset. But he said he doubted that very many of them would vote for Likud after Admasu’s ordeal. Read more at The Jerusalem Post.
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Israel: Ethiopians protest nixing of candidate from Likud roster
Ynetnews
By Amnon Meranda
Dozens of community members rally outside Likud’s Tel Aviv headquarters in protest of party’s decision to disqualify Ethiopian candidate chosen for one of immigrant slots on its Knesset list
Several dozen Ethiopian protesters rallies outside the Likud party’s Tel Aviv headquarters on Sunday, in protest of the party Election Committee’s decision to disqualify the Ethiopian candidate’s win of one of the slots reserved for immigrants on its Knesset roster.
The party has secured the 21st and 28th slots on it roster for representatives of the Russian and Ethiopian immigrant communities.
The petition against Alali Adamso’s election, filed by two candidates who lost to him in the party primaries held earlier in December, said that since the Likud Codex states that only those who came to Israel after 1985 can bid for the slots, and Adamso came to Israel in 1983, he was ineligible to bid in the first place.
The committee granted the petition saying that “this is a difficult case, since even though Mr. Adamso received a large number of votes, which may be lost if he is disqualified, accepting his bid would be a deviation from the party code.” Read More.