Netanyahu lauds 'best possible' list, fears influence of far right

Likud Party Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu's bid to cast the Likud as Israel's moderate consensus party was dealt a blow in a hard-fought primary, which saw hardliners dominate the top 10 slots and far-right rival Moshe Feiglin score well enough to be all but assured a place in the next Knesset.

Of the 10 candidates Netanyahu presented as new faces and returning Likud leaders - dubbed his "stars" by most of the media - only two hardliners, former Likud MK Benny Begin and ex-army chief Moshe Ya'alon, made the top 10.

By contrast, all of the top five candidates in the Monday contest, MK Gideon Sa'ar, MK Gilad Erdan, and former MKs Reuven Rivlin, Moshe Kachlon, and Begin, had won Feiglin's explicit endorsement. Despite Netanyahu's strenuous efforts to sideline him, Feiglin won the 20th slot on the list.

Netanyahu had hoped that moderates like ex-MK Dan Meridor and former senior security chiefs Uzi Dayan and Assaf Hefetz would attract centrist voters. But Meridor came in 17th, and Dayan and Hefetz appeared out of the running for the Knesset, coming in 42nd and 38th respectively.

Opinion polls released last week showed that the Likud would win 35 of parliament's 120 seats, compared with 26 for Kadima, led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

"Netanyahu's dream team became his nightmare. The stars are out and the rebels are in," Hanegbi said.

But Netanyahu put a positive spin on the results, calling the list "the best possible" in a speech to party loyalists and vowing to "improve security, strengthen the economy and continue a responsible diplomatic process" with Palestinians.

Former foreign minister Silvan Shalom, who was Netanyahu's most vocal critic from within his own party, won the sixth place, followed by former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Ya'alon who won seventh place.

Fearing that Feiglin's radical views could drive centrist voters away, Netanyahu's list of recommended candidates was aimed primarily at keeping Feiglin and his supporters off the slate. Several senior Likud officials urged the Likud members on Sunday to ignore Netanyahu's recommendations when they cast their votes in the vote.

Netanyahu's former media adviser, Ophir Akunis, plans to petition the Likud party's election council to advance the positions of regional representatives on Likud's Knesset line-up, a move that will likely deprive far-rightist Moshe Feiglin of a place in the next Knesset. Feiglin currently holds the number 20 slot. By handing it over to a regional representative, as Akunis will request, the council will push the far-rightist back to a position somewhere past 30.

Akunis' move came after Feiglin dealt a blow to Netanyahu's bid to cast Likud as Israel's moderate consensus party in the hard-fought primary, which also saw other hardliners dominate the top 10 slots.

After the primary, Kadima chair Tzipi Livni, who will face Netanyahu in the race for the premiership in February, used the opposition leader's nickname in calling the Likud election lineup "Bibi's problem."