Foreign Minister Sivan Shalom speculated that he would gain strength in the Likud leadership race due to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz’s defection to Kadima, claiming that those who planned to vote for Mofaz would now sway in his direction.
A Dahaf Institute poll published Tuesday showed that Shalom’s prediction was correct, with the foreign minister closing the gap on MK Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of next Monday’s primaries.
The poll, which based its results on the answers of 500 Likud members, revealed that if the internal party elections were held today Netanyahu would gain 39 percent of the votes, and Shalom would come in at a close second with 29 percent, as opposed to the meager 14 percent he received in a similar survey conducted two weeks ago.
Should the poll’s results hold in the actual primary elections, Bibi and Shalom would hold a second round to determine the party’s next chairman.
According to the poll, only 50 percent of Likud members are certain they would vote in the primary elections.
The survey also showed that one out of every five Likud members would vote for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Kadima party, with 30 percent of those surveyed saying they would not vote for Likud.