Middle East News
Netanyahu confirmed winner in party leadership contest
Feb 2, 2012, 7:57 GMT
Tel Aviv - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won 76.79 per cent of votes in a race for the leadership of his ruling Likud party, according to final results published early Thursday.
His only challenger, hardline West Bank settler Moshe Feiglin, received 23.21 per cent of the vote.
Some 63,150 Likud members (50.4 per cent of 125,300 eligible members) turned out to vote for the Tuesday primary.
Of those, 48,490 voted for Netanyahu, against 14,660 for Feiglin.
Despite speculation that he might call early elections following the latest leadership contest, Netanyahu did not mention bringing the vote forward from its 2013 scheduled date in his victory speech.
Recent surveys show that Netanyahu would lead Likud to victory if a general election were held now.
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