Netanyahu is Back

- Israel's former prime minister the very pro free markets, supply-sider, free trade and small government, Benjamin Netanyahu was set to be re-elected on Tuesday as leader of Likud, the hawkish party topping opinion polls the year after a stinging electoral defeat.


Internal party opinion polls have given Netanyahu a massive lead in the party primary, with at least 70 percent of the vote in the race against Moshe Feiglin, backed by Likud's hardline religious current, and another little-known candidate, Danny Danon.

Former foreign minister Silvan Shalom, the only candidate to threaten Netanyahu's leadership, refused last month to take part in the race after Netanyahu decided on the party primary date without consulting him.

The biggest threat to Netanyahu in Tuesday's vote is turnout, as it is taking place in the middle of summer vacation. Many of the 100,000 registered members of Likud could stay away, observers say.

A decent showing by Feiglin -- a religious hardliner -- could force Netanyahu to give him a senior leadership post, a move that could dent Likud's currently soaring ratings and hurt the party's chances for a comeback should early elections be held.

To avoid the scenario, Netanyahu has appealed to Likud voters to cast ballots.

"Go out and vote as tonight starts the true race for leadership of the government," he said while casting his ballot in Jerusalem. "I ask Likud voters to think about the future of the country.

"Likud cannot become a marginal party," he said earlier. "We don't want an inaccurate representation that suggests we advocate insubordination and messianic ideals."

Party members were casting ballots from 0700 GMT until 2000 GMT, with the first unofficial results expected to be released around 2100 GMT.

Turnout stood at 19 percent six hours before the close of polls, Likud officials said.

Although Netanyahu's grip on Israel's main right-wing opposition party was never in doubt, the primary was called because under Likud's charter, a new leadership vote must be held if the party loses national elections.

During Israel's last parliamentary polls in March 2006, Likud suffered a stinging electoral defeat under Netanyahu's stewardship. It took only 12 seats in the 120-member parliament, the worst result since it won its first legislative election in 1977 and began to dominate national politics.

The humiliating reversal came four months after Netanyahu was elected chairman to replace former premier Ariel Sharon, who quit to form the centrist Kadima that won the March poll.

But the fortunes of Likud and Netanyahu have turned around, as the ratings of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Kadima have slid in the wake of last year's inconclusive war in Lebanon and a string of scandals involving senior government officials.

Today 57-year-old Bibi, as Netanyahu is known in Israel, is the public's first choice to be Israel's next prime minister -- 36 percent favoured him in a recent opinion poll, compared with eight percent for Olmert and 22 percent for former premier Ehud Barak.

The same poll showed that Likud would more than double its representation in the Knesset if new elections were held, winning 26 seats, more than any other party.