The Likud faced the greatest crisis in its history on the eve of the 2006 elections. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's establishment of a new party, Kadima, had left Likud in shreds. Little remained of what had once been a large ruling party. After replacing Sharon as Likud chairman, Benjamin Netanyahu convinced the party’s Central Committee to relinquish the authority to choose the party’s Knesset list and to transfer that power to the entire party membership. Netanyahu claimed that it could produce four or five more seats for their party, which was in shambles. At that time, the Central Committee had a reputation of being power hungry and corrupt. A mere 3,000 people decided on Likud’s representatives, which meant they could control the party's Knesset members.
It is still unclear how much the switch actually helped Likud. The party shrunk to just 12 seats in that election, positioning it on the smaller side of the midsized parties. Before each of the next three elections — in 2009, 2013 and 2015 — Likud held two primaries open to all party members: one to elect the party chairman and the other to choose its Knesset list.
