Feiglin complains: Likud results twisted

Likud activist says primary election results skewed to reflect decrease in support; will file official complaint.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Moshe Feiglin 311 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Moshe Feiglin 311
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
The Likud deliberately released results indicating that Moshe Feiglin received fewer votes than he really did, the party activist’s campaign charged on Thursday morning.
Michael Fuah, the director-general of Feiglin’s Manhigut Yehudit movement, said he was shocked when he saw the formal results released by the party Wednesday night. He said he will file a formal complaint to the head of the Likud elections committee, retired judge Yehoshua Gross, as soon as official results are published.
“There is a serious problem with the results,” Fuah said.
“There are places where Moshe won by much more than what they said he did. This election is a matter of scoring points and it makes a big difference if the numbers are. Something improper was done here.”
Fuah said Feiglin had observers in the polling stations who had completely different numbers than what was published by the Likud. For instance, in Beit Shemesh, the Likud said Feiglin beat Netanyahu 126 to 77, but according to Feiglin’s numbers, he beat Netanyahu 274 to 60.
In Beit She’an, the Likud said 1074 people voted, 1030 of whom cast a ballot for Netanyahu. But only 834 people were eligible to vote in the city and Feiglin’s observer said only 550 people voted.
Feiglin’s associates said numbers were also wrong in Ma’aleh Adumim, one of the Likud branches in Tel Aviv and other places across the country.
According to the numbers released by Likud Wednesday night, Feiglin won 23.21 percent of the vote, down from 23.4% in the last election in 2007. If Feiglin received more votes than indicated by the party, it could be that the Likud reported falsely that Feiglin’s support decreased.
Feiglin said that even according to the current numbers, the election was a big success for him. But he believes he actually won more, perhaps even 30 percent of the vote.
“What happened here is very grave,” he said. “They are trying to twist the results in every place possible. But it doesn’t change the fact that this election was a big success for me.”
Likud spokeswoman Noga Katz said the data from hundreds of ballot boxes around the country was still being processed and official numbers would be published soon on the Likud website.