His own worst enemyHis own worst enemy

Netanyahu to battle self in NIS 4m leadership poll

Party to hold formal vote next month even after nobody registers to challenge PM as head of Likud

Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Likud party meeting at the Knesset on January 11, 2016. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Likud party meeting at the Knesset on January 11, 2016. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be the sole contender for the Likud party leadership in next month’s primaries, the party’s elections committee announced Monday.

Some 100,000 eligible Likud primary voters will have the choice of two tickets: one in support of Netanyahu, and one blank ticket signifying an abstention.

The committee unanimously agreed to go ahead with the February 23 vote, even after no challengers announced their candidacy by the Sunday deadline.

The vote, a formality in the absence of other candidates, will cost an estimated NIS 4 million ($1 million).

In December 2015, the party’s powerful central committee voted to approve Netanyahu’s request to move up the leadership primaries to February, which the prime minister argued would stabilize the governing coalition and its razor-thin Knesset majority.

Opponents had argued that bringing forward the primaries instead of holding them closer to the next general elections could stymie attempts by potential competitors to run against the prime minister.

A senior Likud official was quoted by daily newspaper Haaretz on Sunday as saying that while Netanyahu had “certainly secured his victory,” that could prove to be a double-edged sword by antagonizing political powerhouses such as Yisrael Katz and Gideon Sa’ar, who see themselves as potential party leaders.

A year ago, facing a shaky coalition, Netanyahu brought the leadership primaries forward; in that instance, the aim was to prevent rival Sa’ar from mounting a successful counterbid for the leadership. Sa’ar subsequently pulled out of the race.

Primaries, which are conducted by several Israeli political parties, enable party members — rather than internal committees — to elect a leader and the lists of candidates for general elections. In June, Netanyahu fought off a bid to have the power to choose candidates returned to the Likud Central Committee.

Likud lawmakers Oren Hazan and Avi Dichter mulled runs against Netanyahu in the 2016 leadership primaries, but both declined to challenge him in the end.

On Sunday, Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes, the wife of former Likud MK Silvan Shalom, tweeted jokingly that she was also considering challenging Netanyahu for the role. But fearing she might “accidentally win,” the outspoken Nir-Mozes said she ultimately decided not to run.

Raoul Wootliff and Sue Surkes contributed to this report.

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