Netanyahu loyalist Miki Zohar tops Israel vote for World Likud chair
Incumbent World Likud chair insists he’s still in poll position to stay in post.
By JEREMY SHARONMiki Zohar(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Likud MK and loyalist of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Miki Zohar secured the most votes in a poll amongst leading the Likud central committee members on Sunday ahead of the Likud world conference which will select the chairman of World Likud.His close rival and incumbent chair Yaakov Hagoel came in a close second, but is still confident of winning the actual vote at the world conference next week when a larger number of delegates are up for grabs.The Likud’s 3,500 central committee members elected lists headed by the various candidates for the chairmanship of World Likud, which is the umbrella organization for the Likud’s international branches and its means of connecting to Diaspora Jewry.In Sunday’s vote, Zohar’s list narrowly beat Hagoel by 1,025 votes to 909, with David Peretz supported by influential Likud MK in third place with 635 votes.Some 2,945 votes were cast, with a voter turnout of 84 percent.The delegates elected will now be sent to the World Likud conference to elect the chairman, and other positions within the organization.The delegates elected by Sunday’s vote comprise only 40 percent of all delegates however, with 60 percent of the other delegates coming from Likud representatives who were already elected to the World Zionist Congress earlier this year.In total 250 delegates will vote in the world conference next Tuesday, of whom Hagoel says he will obtain a majority because of his long-time work both in World Likud and his familiarity with the delegates, as well as the support he says he will get from Peretz and others.Zohar however also declared victory, saying that he had won and that it would give him the ability to influence the national institutions and Jewish life in the Diaspora.The head of World Likud will play a role in determining the Likud candidate for leadership of the national institutions which the party, in accordance with various coalition agreements, may take control of in the World Zionist Congress conference later this year.
The Likud has the opportunity to lead either the World Zionist Organization itself or the Jewish National Fund.Two weeks ago, Netanyahu personally endorsed Zohar, who is also the Likud’s Knesset faction chairman and the coalition chairman, calling on central committee members to vote for him.Netanyahu has never wielded control over World Likud, as the incumbent, Hagoel, is an ally of influential Likudnik and former Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, while Danon himself held the position before Hagoel.
