Four days after the primary elections, Likud officials recounted the votes in 15 polling stations after party officials learned those stations forgot to verify numbers from the manual recording to the computer figures for those sites. While there were no major changes in the lineup, some of the candidates were effected, including Tzachi Hanegbi, who was knocked out of the top ten list, now number 12. It appears that Danny Danon is number eight and Yariv Levin number nine.

Some of the polling stations reporting surprising results. For example, the results in Modi’in and Yarcha were identical. Tzachi Hanegbi received 278 votes in Beit Jon while there are only 197 registered voters. In Efrat, Shar Binyamin, Hebron Hills, Kfar Marar, Dimona and Dalit el-Carmel, voter turnout was significantly less than the statistical norm. The N. Tel Aviv polling station was tabulated into the overall count twice. Unexplainable results were also reported in Kiryat Ata and Kiryat Yam.

One Likud official who spoke with Walla News called the situation “catastrophic”, explaining the more they probe the worse the situation appears. Likud officials have already announced that whatever the case may be, they will not order a second primary election.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)