Incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu was expected from the beginning to run for re-election. Leading an extremely fragile coalition, the Prime Minister wanted to shore up his internal support by holding an extremely early primary, years before the mandated date of a possible election. However, the government collapsed in December 2014, and an early election was mandated for 17 March 2015, over two years earlier than necessary.
Timing
An early poll showed that the prime minister would lose to Gideon Sa'ar in the primary; so, Netanyahu asked the Likud Central Committee to move up the 6 January date to 31 December, to make sure that Sa'ar didn't have the time to mount a campaign. Sa'ar objected to the proposal. The motion was put to the 3,000 member central committee, who voted in a mini-referendum via secret ballot at ten polling stations throughout the country on 10 December 2014. While Likud did not release numbers, a spokesperson said 2,300 out of 3,700 eligible party members had cast ballots on the measure, which some saw as a litmus test of the prime minister's popularity within the party. After approval by Likud members, Likud's internal court moved the date of the election to 6 January 2015 because the vote lacked a two-thirds majority. Netanyahu will likely appeal the decision of the court. A panel of judges accepted the appeal on 17 December 2014, and allowed the primaries to occur on 31 December 2014.
Gideon Sa'ar was a prospective candidate, but he announced on 11 December 2014 that he will not stand for the party's leadership. MK Moshe Feiglin withdrew his candidacy on 18 December 2014, after the Likud court ruled that the primaries for prime minister and the Likud electoral list would occur simultaneously.
Netanyahu qualification controversy
Shai Galili, the comptroller of the party, called for an investigative hearing which would focus on Netanyahu's supposed use of "party resources" to further his candidacy during the Likud primary; the hearing resulted in Netanyahu's disqualification as a candidate for both chairman and a place on the election list. Netanyahu was allowed to run.
Polling
Early polls showed that the prime minister would lose to Gideon Sa'ar in the primary.
Results
Party list
In the primary vote for spots on the Likud's electoral list for the Knesset elections, incumbent MKs Moshe Feiglin and Tzipi Hotovely, both on the right-wing of the party, failed to win spots high enough on the list to realistically have a chance of being elected to the Knesset, while Internal Affairs minister Gilad Erdan won the second spot on the list, behind Nethanyahu, and Miri Regev rose to the 4th slot, up from 12th. Feiglin, who had held the 13th spot in the outgoing Knesset, fell to the unrealistic 36th position, and Hotovely fell from the 18th position to the 26th slot. Likud had 18 seats in the 19th Knesset, and its maximum realistic goal for the 20th Knesset is 24 seats. With all of the ballots counted, the top of the Likud's Knesset list will be as follows:
