Israeli Likud Central Committee on Monday evening voted against holding early party primaries, marking a narrow but important victory for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's camp.

Shortly after midnight, Likud Central Committee Chairman Tzahi Hanegbi announced that 1433 members opposed the early party primaries vote in favor of Sharon, while 1329 supported such a move called by Sharon's rival and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

With a 91 percent voting turnout, 2,780 central committee members out of the listed 3,050 heeded Sharon's call by coming to cast their ballot.

Local newspaper Ha'aretz online edition quoted Knesset (parliament) member Ruhama Avraham as saying that in a conversation with the prime minister following the announcement, Sharon expressed his delight with the results.

The proposal to move up the date of the party leadership race, promoted by Netanyahu and another Likud member Uzi Landau, is widely seen as a bid to overthrow Prime Minister Sharon, their rival for the Likud chairmanship.

The issue could seal the fate of the embattled Likud party. If the central committee votes to advance the date of the primaries, Sharon may bolt the Likud and start his own party, observers said earlier.

Netanyahu conceded defeat in the party ballot, but said that Sharon cannot ignore the strong opposition against him within the party.

He said he was still committed to running in party primaries which will be held at their original date early next year.

"We lost by a very few votes. There is a very large camp that went against the flow, against the wind, against the pressure, against the leadership and against the temptations," Netanyahu stressed.
 
The polls opened at 10 AM (07:00 GMT) Monday at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Grounds, where the Likud central committee members met last night to debate the primaries date.

As Sharon cast his ballot Monday afternoon, he urged the central committee members to vote against advancing the primaries date as it will seriously damage the Likud.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2005)