With a heavy voter turnout of over 90% of the some 3,000 Central Committee members, the proposal to advance the party primaries from next April to this coming November received only 48.1% of the legal votes. The Sharon camp, which was interested in pushing off the bid to unseat the Prime Minister as party leader for as long as possible, received 104 more votes - 1,433 out of the 2,762 votes cast.
After Committee Chairman Minister Tzachi HaNegbi declared the official results shortly after midnight, it was announced that Ariel Sharon would address the Committee by phone-hookup. However, after a few attempts to overcome various technical difficulties, the effort was given up. This marked the second night in a row that Sharon was unable to address the convention; on Sunday night, his microphone was mysteriously detached just seconds after he began his speech. Both camps hinted that the other was responsible.
Knesset Member Binyamin Netanyahu, the big loser last night, said afterwards, "Yes, we lost, and I respect the democratic decision of our members - because I am a democrat. I expect all the candidates to accept the decision and remain in the Likud" - a jibe at Prime Minister Sharon, whose refusal to promise to remain in the Likud even if he were to lose was the big issue of last night's vote. "I expect to hear this commitment from the Prime Minister," Netanyahu said. "The Likud is not a party on-condition."
This morning, Netanyahu appeared to attribute his loss to various pressures exerted by the Sharon camp, saying that some of the voters "caved in to the pressures, the baits, the patronage jobs or other things."
Netanyahu refused to say die: "We've completed Chapter 1, and we lost by a small margin. We have here a strong and very large camp [in the Likud] that went against the stream, against the wind, against the pressures, against the regime, and against the enticements. This is a camp of idealists, of ministers, of Knesset Members, of Central Committee members who withstood all the pressures and simply held on to the principles of the Likud... I have no doubt that in Chapter 2, in the next campaign, we will win."
MK Dr. Uzi Landau, another declared candidate vying for the party leadership, had joined Netanyahu in the bid to advance the primaries. He said after the loss, "As opposed to others, I accept the outcome of the Central Committee votes. We will continue to work within the party as usual. We lost the battle, but instead of the race [for party leader] being in two months, it will be a half-year from now. We will do everything necessary for the Likud to remain united."
Netanyahu supporters among the party's Knesset Members, such as Gideon Saar, Gila Gamliel and Gilad Erdan, said too that they would honor the decision.
MK Roni Bar-On, who backed Sharon all the way, said, "I would expect Sharon to now show the 'compassion of victors,' and to embrace all the Netanyahu supporters."
MK Ehud Yatom, a hawkish Netanyahu camp member, also had expectations of Sharon, saying he should now implement the traditional Likud ideology. Yatom said that Sharon must strengthen the connection between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim, and certainly not carry out additional unilateral withdrawals.
After Sharon's victory, many of his supporters, such as MK Eli Aflalo and press aide Eyal Arad, were seen walking around the Exhibition Fairgrounds in Tel Aviv, where the vote was held, with wide smiles on their faces. Aflalo said that he would prefer to have this "victory for Sharon on behalf of the Likud rather than the 50 million shekel lottery prize [that was raffled off last night - ed.]."
Other victors last night included Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who overcame his objections to the disengagement plan over the past few months and came down solidly behind Ariel Sharon, and Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz. Shalom called on the anti-disengagement plan forces within the Likud to support the government in its efforts to pass the 2006 budget.
Education Minister Limor Livnat, who "got off the fence," as she described it, and called just one day before the vote for advancing the primaries, was placed in an awkward position. Her refusal to take a strong stand on the disengagement, as well as her support for the Dovrat Reforms in the educational system, leave her less popular among the Likud rank-and-file than she has been in the past.
After Committee Chairman Minister Tzachi HaNegbi declared the official results shortly after midnight, it was announced that Ariel Sharon would address the Committee by phone-hookup. However, after a few attempts to overcome various technical difficulties, the effort was given up. This marked the second night in a row that Sharon was unable to address the convention; on Sunday night, his microphone was mysteriously detached just seconds after he began his speech. Both camps hinted that the other was responsible.
Knesset Member Binyamin Netanyahu, the big loser last night, said afterwards, "Yes, we lost, and I respect the democratic decision of our members - because I am a democrat. I expect all the candidates to accept the decision and remain in the Likud" - a jibe at Prime Minister Sharon, whose refusal to promise to remain in the Likud even if he were to lose was the big issue of last night's vote. "I expect to hear this commitment from the Prime Minister," Netanyahu said. "The Likud is not a party on-condition."
This morning, Netanyahu appeared to attribute his loss to various pressures exerted by the Sharon camp, saying that some of the voters "caved in to the pressures, the baits, the patronage jobs or other things."
Netanyahu refused to say die: "We've completed Chapter 1, and we lost by a small margin. We have here a strong and very large camp [in the Likud] that went against the stream, against the wind, against the pressures, against the regime, and against the enticements. This is a camp of idealists, of ministers, of Knesset Members, of Central Committee members who withstood all the pressures and simply held on to the principles of the Likud... I have no doubt that in Chapter 2, in the next campaign, we will win."
MK Dr. Uzi Landau, another declared candidate vying for the party leadership, had joined Netanyahu in the bid to advance the primaries. He said after the loss, "As opposed to others, I accept the outcome of the Central Committee votes. We will continue to work within the party as usual. We lost the battle, but instead of the race [for party leader] being in two months, it will be a half-year from now. We will do everything necessary for the Likud to remain united."
Netanyahu supporters among the party's Knesset Members, such as Gideon Saar, Gila Gamliel and Gilad Erdan, said too that they would honor the decision.
MK Roni Bar-On, who backed Sharon all the way, said, "I would expect Sharon to now show the 'compassion of victors,' and to embrace all the Netanyahu supporters."
MK Ehud Yatom, a hawkish Netanyahu camp member, also had expectations of Sharon, saying he should now implement the traditional Likud ideology. Yatom said that Sharon must strengthen the connection between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim, and certainly not carry out additional unilateral withdrawals.
After Sharon's victory, many of his supporters, such as MK Eli Aflalo and press aide Eyal Arad, were seen walking around the Exhibition Fairgrounds in Tel Aviv, where the vote was held, with wide smiles on their faces. Aflalo said that he would prefer to have this "victory for Sharon on behalf of the Likud rather than the 50 million shekel lottery prize [that was raffled off last night - ed.]."
Other victors last night included Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who overcame his objections to the disengagement plan over the past few months and came down solidly behind Ariel Sharon, and Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz. Shalom called on the anti-disengagement plan forces within the Likud to support the government in its efforts to pass the 2006 budget.
Education Minister Limor Livnat, who "got off the fence," as she described it, and called just one day before the vote for advancing the primaries, was placed in an awkward position. Her refusal to take a strong stand on the disengagement, as well as her support for the Dovrat Reforms in the educational system, leave her less popular among the Likud rank-and-file than she has been in the past.