Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu ran for re-election as head of the rightist Likud Party yesterday, with pundits predicting an easy win for a man seen as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's main challenger.
Netanyahu, a hawkish ex-premier, has soared in opinion polls since last year's inconclusive war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and the rise of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Political analysts expected Netanyahu to take well over 50 percent of votes in the Likud election, which began at 10 am (0700 GMT). Final results were due in after 11 pm (4 am today Beijing time).
"This evening, when we close the ballot boxes, we begin our campaign for the prime ministership and to bring a future of hope to our country," Netanyahu told reporters.
Israeli general elections are due in 2010 but, with Olmert's near record low approval ratings, some commentators anticipate a face-off between him and Netanyahu as early as next year. Olmert is from the centrist Kadima party.
Netanyahu's two challengers for the Likud leadership were Moshe Feiglin, a Jewish ultranationalist, and party newcomer Danny Danon.
Moshe Feiglin is a religious settler with a platform that calls for barring Arabs from Israel's parliament, encouraging non-Jews to emigrate and pulling Israel out of the United Nations.
Neither was considered to have any chance of winning. But a strong showing by Feiglin would be embarrassing for Netanyahu, a media-savvy politician who tries to project a moderate right-wing image and who is trying to rehabilitate the Likud after a humiliating victory in a national election last year.
Around 100,000 Likud Party members were eligible to vote in the leadership primary. But turnout was expected to be low, partially because many Israelis are currently on summer vacation. Organizers said ballot boxes had been set up in the Red Sea resort town of Eilat to allow party members to vote without interrupting their holiday.
The Likud led Israel from 2001 to 2005, when party leader Ariel Sharon left to form the new centrist party, Kadima. In 2006, Kadima won a national election and the Likud saw its power shrivel to 12 seats in the country's 120-seat parliament. But with Sharon's replacement, Prime Minister Olmert, dismally unpopular, polls now show that Netanyahu would win if elections were held today.
Source: China Daily/agencies
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