The Likud’s election committee on Thursday evening confirmed the decision of the Likud court and declared Prime Minister and Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu as the party’s candidate for prime minister of the 21st Knesset.

The court ruled on Wednesday that the party would not hold leadership primaries, two days after it was determined that Netanyahu would run against himself and that no other candidates challenged him.

The Likud election committee ruled on Monday to hold primaries on February 23, despite Netanyahu being the only candidate. Voters would have been tasked with choosing between a blank ballot and one with the Prime Minister’s name printed on it.

The main reason for the decision to cancel the primaries was a petition to the Likud court by the party’s comptroller, who argued that holding a vote would unnecessarily waste four million shekels in expenses from the already depleted party coffers. He said there will be no point in holding primaries when there is only one candidate.

There were many speculations that Netanyahu was trying to advance primaries in an attempt to stop popular former minister Gideon Sa’ar from running against him for the Likud leadership.