Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to sail to victory in his Likud party's primary vote Tuesday, easily besting his sole competitor Moshe Feiglin, a champion of the settler movement.
Some 125,000 people who have been registered as members of the rightwing party for more than 16 months will be able to participate in the vote announced by Netanyahu in December, to the surprise of the political class.
The premier's decision to move the primary up sparked speculation about whether he would also bring forward general elections, currently scheduled for around November 2013.
Netanyahu attributed his decision to a desire to save money, saying holding the primary on the same day as the party's convention would save millions of Israeli shekels.
But commentators saw the move as an attempt by Netanyahu to capitalize on his current domestic popularity, with polls placing him ahead of his challengers in the primary vote, as well as future competitors for the premiership.
His Likud party also remains well ahead of the opposition, according to recent polls.
Voters will be able to cast their ballot at one of 150 stations throughout the country, with polls opening at 10 am and closing at 10 pm. First results are expected around midnight, according to Likud's acting spokesman.
During Likud's last primaries in August 2007, Netanyahu won 75 percent of the vote, easily beating Feiglin, a religious Jew who lives with his wife and five children in the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron.
This time around, media commentators said it would be a success for Feiglin, who supports the "voluntary" transfer of Israel's Arab minority, to obtain over 20 percent of the vote a second time, particularly given Netanyahu's commanding popularity within the party.
In a bid to do so, Feiglin has sought to register as party members supporters of the settler movement who might ordinarily vote for parties to the right of Likud, according to political commentator Hannan Crystal.
"Thousands of settlers who don't vote for Likud in the legislative elections choosing instead groups that are more to the right have registered with Likud so as to influence the party line," Crystal told AFP.
"They represent about nine percent of its members. But their strength is greater than that because they form a bloc that will vote massively against other members of Likud," he added.
Crystal said a strong showing for Feiglin could suggest a push to the right for Likud because its members would fear angering his voting bloc as the party puts together its list of candidates for the general election.
Reports in the Israeli media have suggested Netanyahu is genuinely concerned about the ability of Feiglin to turn out voters, fearing complacency among supporters of the premier could give Feiglin an outsize showing.
He has for years attempted to mediate Feiglin's influence on the party, fearing that Likud stands to lose centrist voters if it swerves too far right.
