Paying the price for governing, and taking a more pragmatic approach during the past 3 years in office, PM Netanyahu is well suited to win the Likud chairmanship primaries set fro Jan. 31. But may face some embarrassment from Moshe Feiglin,
emerging as a protest vote candidate from the right.
Moshe Feiglin, who is challenging Netanyahu for leadership of Likud in the party's primaries two weeks from now, cited a favorable poll Tuesday morning as evidence that his chances of seriously embarrassing Netanyahu are high, Arutz Sheva website reports.
In a poll conducted by polling company Ma’agar Mochot, about 26 percent of Likud members not affiliated with Feiglin's faction agreed that "it is important to vote for Moshe Feiglin in the upcoming primaries, even though it is clear that Binyamin Netanyahu will win, just so that the right wing inside Likud will gain strength."
A press release from Feiglin's Jewish Leadership faction noted that the faction numbers about 9 percent of the overall Likud membership.
Adding the 26 percent who agreed with the statement cited above to those 9 percent, the faction explained that "this brings his total support to about 35 percent in the party, [with] Netanyahu at 51 percent, and 14 percent undecided or unsure."
According to the grassroots Likud website likudnik.co.il, Feiglin even has a chance of beating Netanyahu within the Likud Druze sector, which is known to be very right wing in its political leanings. Another grassroots site, likudshely.co.il, is reporting a widespread phenomenon of Netanyahu supporters refusing to turn out for him in protest, or even pledging to vote Feiglin in an act of defiance over Netanyahu’s refusal to legalize outposts in Judea and Samaria.