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Netanyahu easily retains Likud leadership, allies dominate Knesset list
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convincingly retained the Likud Party leadership while results announced yesterday also confirmed that the list of Likud parliamentary candidates is heavily populated by those considered Netanyahu allies.
55 per cent of Likud members participated in the primaries. Netanyahu secured 75 per cent of the vote for party leader, crushing his sole challenger MK Danny Danon, who received just 16 per cent with 9 per cent abstaining. The scale of Netanyahu’s victory will be seen as an important vote of confidence ahead of the 17 March general election.
The Likud’s list of parliamentary candidates will also be viewed similarly, as the results defied speculation of impending domination by the right-wing of the party, which has been openly critical of Netanyahu’s leadership. Interior Minister Gilad Erdan secured second spot on the list with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein in third place. Also in prominent positions are the likes of Israel Katz, Silvan Shalom, Moshe Ya’alon, Ze’ev Elkin and Tzachi Hanegbi, all considered Netanyahu allies. Only Miri Regev in fifth spot and Danon in a disappointing tenth position are considered spearheads of the party’s right-wing. Surprisingly, fellow right-wingers and current MKs Tzipi Hotovely and Moshe Feiglin failed to secure realistic electable slots on the list.
Netanyahu called the slate an “amazing” list, commenting, “Contrary to early forecasts, the members of Likud chose a balanced, responsible list that will help me continue governing the country responsibly, with security and success. That is the true spirit of the Likud Party.”
However, Labour leader Isaac Herzog and Hatnuah leader Tzipi Livni, who head a joint ticket said, “The faces and names on the Likud list are the same faces and names that brought the country to a situation in which poverty is becoming worse, Israel is increasingly isolated, and young couples can’t buy an apartment.”
The primaries also saw Likud members approve a proposal under which Netanyahu will select candidates in slots 11 and 23 on the party’s Knesset list.