Israel’s Netanyahu in Leadership Vote

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was on his way to a fifth term as leader of his Likud Party in primary elections on Tuesday. Some 125.000 Likud members are eligible to vote at more than 150 countrywide polling stations that remain open until 10 p.m. local time. Netanyahu’s only opposition is Moshe Feiglin, who comes from the extreme right of the party and is not expected to present any serious challenge to the prime minister. The significance of the primaries lies more in what they signal about Netanyahu’s overall electoral strategy. He is not required to go into general elections until late in 2013, but by securing his leadership now he may be preparing the way to move them forward. Netanyahu leads in opinion polls and commentators say that if he has a big general election victory behind him by the time U.S. elections take place next November he would be better able to cope with a second-term presidency of Barack Obama.