Netanyahu wins Likud chairmanship for fifth time

JTA

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was victorious in the Likud Party chairmanship race, though his only challenger garnered about 24 percent of the vote.

Netanyahu won about 75 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s polling, about the same percentage as the last race in 2007. Tuesday’s vote had a low turnout of the eligible 130,000 party members. It is Netanyahu’s fifth victory in 18 years,

Party members went to the polls Tuesday to elect a chairman and a new Central Committee more than a year before scheduled national elections.

Netanyahu was challenged by hard-liner Moshe Feiglin of the Jewish Leadership faction of the party, who received the vote of one in every four party members.

Several polling stations in the West Bank, where Feiglin is a resident and was expected to poll well, sent voters home after not receiving the necessary materials, according to complaints from the Feiglin camp. Polling places in some of communities were allowed to stay open up to two hours after the scheduled 10 p.m. closing due to the problems and ow voter turnout.

The results were released at about 1 a.m. Wednesday.

“Today the real Likud won. We proved that our strength is in our unity. We will continue to lead responsibly for better education, economy, and security for all the citizens of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu told supporters following his victory.