JERUSALEM, 20 December 2005 — Benjamin Netanyahu was set to win a leadership election in Israel’s rightist Likud party yesterday, an Israel television and radio exit poll showed.
Netanyahu, a former prime minister, took 47 percent of the vote to 32 percent for top rival Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in a ballot to choose Likud’s new chief after the defection last month of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the survey projected.
Netanyahu, 56, who as Sharon’s finance minister won market praise for spending cuts and reforms that helped lift Israel out of recession, quit Sharon’s Cabinet in protest against a Gaza pullout completed in September.
He has vowed to take a hard-line against further territorial withdrawals from land the Palestinians want for a future state.
Sharon’s departure from Likud to head a new centrist party shattered the long-dominant Likud, now battling for third place in opinion polls behind Sharon’s party, Kadima, and leftist Labor ahead of a March 28 general election.
But analysts say Netanyahu, an experienced statesman, may boost Likud in the polls before election day. Worries about Sharon’s health, sparked by a minor stroke the 77-year-old ex-general suffered on Sunday, could lift Likud’s fortunes.
In another development, Israeli warplanes struck the Gaza Strip overnight and the army said it was targeting roads used for firing rockets into Israel. The attacks continued into early yesterday morning.
Meanwhile, Sharon rested in a Jerusalem hospital yesterday after a minor stroke that raised questions over his political future, but doctors said he should fully recover.
The hefty 77-year-old former general, was rushed to hospital on Sunday.
Doctors said Sharon would stay for further tests and if all went well would be discharged today. His long-time ally, Shimon Peres, said he would resume work immediately, though aides said it would be days before he returned to full capacity.
The blood clot on Sharon’s brain went without causing any lasting damage.
“There is an excellent chance this will not repeat itself,” said chief neurologist Tamir Ben-Hur. “I think after he rests he will be able to return to normal activity.” A parliamentary election is due in March and some commentators had suggested that the health scare could damage the prospects of Sharon’s new centrist party Kadima.
