Likud Election Committee: Every primary vote to be recounted
Following complaints of gaps between the number of votes listed in the Likud official results and the number of actual voters who cast a ballot in last week's internal elections last week, the ruling party announces a recount under the supervision of observers.
The Likud Election Committee announced Tuesday that every primary vote has to be recounted under the supervision of observers, due to complaints of discrepancies in the number of votes cast and the number of actual voters.
The complaints about gaps in the final tallies caught the attention of senior Likud ministers and lawmakers who demanded a recount.
Given that only several dozen votes separated the top spots on the Likud Party's Knesset List, the recount might cause a dramatic change in pecking order for the ruling party.
After the votes were counted on Wednesday, at the upper end of the scale, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein won the most votes, closely followed by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, while long-time Netanyahu rival Gideon Sa'ar battled it out for third place with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan. Culture Minister Miri Regev, meanwile, appeared to have secured the fifth spot on the list.
Others in the party's top 10 were ministers Yariv Levin, Yoav Galant (who only recently left Minister Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu and joined Likud), and Gila Gamliel, along with former Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and ex-Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter.
Ranked in the top 20 were ministers Yuval Steinitz, Tzachi Hanegbi, Ze'ev Elkin and Ofir Akunis, along with Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely. Joining them to complete the top 20 were Minister Haim Katz, coalition chairman David Amsalem and his predecessor David Bitan, Amir Ohana and Yoav Kisch.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Likud Election Committee chairman, retired judge Menachem Neeman, warned that the discrepancies may be down to a mistake and not malicious intent.
"There is a big difference between the falsification of results and irregularities, which can stem from human error," he said.
In addition, claims were made about votes being discarded from the official count.
Protocols show 100 people voted for Gideon Sa'ar in two separate polls, however, the ballots were not listed on the results' official form.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed Likud's tribunal that he has decided to forgo the reserved spot at number 21 that he received in the party's Knesset list for the April elections.
Instead, Netanyahu will get a reserved spot at number 28 on the list, as well as another one after the elected representatives from the different districts, for candidates of his choosing.
A statement on behalf of the prime minister said the move was done "out of appreciation for David Bitan and Miki Zohar," two Likud MKs who were among Netanyahu's closest allies but came out against him over the reserved spots following the party's primaries.
