Businessman and former Sayeret Matkal (Special Forces) officer Naftali Bennett parachuted his way into the top position of the Bayit Yehudi (“Jewish Home”) party on Tuesday, at the first of two Primary votes. The second vote will be for the party list.
The next challenge that Bennett has in front of him will be to integrate all of the Ichud Leumi party members into the party, so that they will run as one large list.
The Bayit Yehudi party represents the Religious-Zionist sector.
3:46 AM (Wednesday – Israel Time) Naftali Bennett is the winner of the Bayit Yehudi primaries, with 67% of the vote, and Orlev with 32%. A small number of votes are left to be counted on Wednesday. Final results will be officially announced by the party at 10:00 AM.
12:03 AM (Wednesday) Zevulun Orlev has announced his retirement from politics. Bennett is the new head of the Bayit Yehudi party.
11:35 PM With 40% of the votes counted, Bennet has 9429 votes, and Orlev has 3829 votes.
The ballot count is currently in progress in the primary race between Naftali Bennett and Zevulun Orlev for the head of the Bayit Yehudi party.
The count so far indicates that Bennett is leading with some 70% of the votes.
There are reports that Bennett plans to announce his victory at midnight.