Likud primary recount still leaves Hotovely in the cold

A partial recount of Likud party primary votes Sunday, initiated by MK Tzipi Hotovely who ranked 26th on the list, proved to be beneficial primarily for MKs Danny Danon and Yariv Levin, but left Hotovely in the same 26th slot.

Danon and Levin moved from the 10th and 12th spots, respectively to 9th and 10th on the party list.

Deputy Transportation Minister Hotovely filed an appeal to review the results earlier on Sunday after Hebrew media reports indicated the final tallies were faulty. She was expected, after the recount, to rank above Avi Dichter — a Likud newcomer and former Shin Bet head and minister, who came in 20th on the list — but remained in the same slot.

According to reports, the two were separated by a mere 750 votes as of last week’s count, which granted Dichter the last realistic seat on the party list, according to recent polls. The recount showed that only 55 votes now separated them, Ynet reported.

Hotovely demanded the recount after some of the results proved to be highly improbable.

According to Channel 2, in Beit Jann, MK Tzachi Hanegbi received 250 votes — but only 197 Likud members had voted overall. Similarly, in Jerusalem, MK Yuli Edelstein received nearly a thousand votes more than the number of voters at the station.

Hanegbi dropped down three spots, from 9th to 12th, after the reevaluation.

Results at some 15 polling stations were reviewed on Sunday.

Hotovely had come in 10th in the previous primary, making her the highest-placed woman on the party list two years ago.

The Likud released its initial tally in the party primaries on Thursday night, with Interior Minister Gilad Erdan and Knesset Speaker Edelstein taking top spots behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after party members voted Wednesday.

The Knesset slate was hailed by Netanyahu as “fantastic,” and saw most of his favored candidates placed in slots high enough to likely secure a Knesset seat, and the poor faring of most of those candidates he did not favor. However, the list features only two women in the top 20 slots, and is low on Orthodox candidates and candidates favored by the settlement community, which could make Likud vulnerable to the Orthodox-nationalist Jewish Home party. Netanyahu may choose to address this when he appoints two candidates of his own choice for slots 11 and 23 later this month.