Cohen, Ohana, and Levin leading Likud primary with over 90% of votes counted

Energy Minister Eli Cohen maintains his healthy lead as first place in the Likud party primary, with 91.2% of votes counted.

Cohen is trailed by some 3,000 votes by Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who is followed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, and coalition whip Ofir Katz.

The results are as follows:

1. Eli Cohen

2. Amir Ohana

3. Yariv Levin

4. Miri Regev

5. Ofir Katz

6. Yoav Kisch

7. Miki Zohar

8. Almog Cohen

9. Amichai Chikli

10. David Amsalem

11. Moshe Saada

12. Tally Gotliv

13. Shlomo Karhi

14. David Bitan

15. Boaz Bismuth

16. Nir Barkat

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party consistently polling in the low 20s, and given that roughly one-third of the first 30 slots on the Likud list are reserved for candidates hand-picked by the premier, those finishing below the top 16 are unlikely to be elected to the next Knesset.

If the current results hold, that would mean current ministers Ze’ev Elkin, Gila Gamliel, May Golan, Idit Silman and Avi Dichter will be out of a job come October, along with current Likud MKs Hanoch Milwidsky, Keti Shitrit, Ariel Kallner, Amit Halevi, Avichai Boaron and Nissim Vaturi.