( AFP ) - Israel's former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reelected leader of the main right-wing opposition Likud party, almost 18 months after its crushing general election defeat.
Netanyahu won 73.2 percent of the vote, while his extreme right-wing challenger Moshe Feiglin gained 23.4 percent and the little known third candidate Danny Danon 3.4 percent, official results showed on Wednesday.
"Today Likud begins its struggle for power," 57-year-old Netanyahu, who had been expected to win easily, told journalists during Tuesday's vote.
Opinion polls had given Netanyahu a massive lead in the race against Feiglin, backed by Likud's hardline religious current.
In all, 39 percent of Likud's 95,000 registered members cast their ballots in the primary, which was taking place in the middle of the summer vacation.
Former foreign minister Silvan Shalom, the only other serious candidate for the leadership, refused last month to take part in the race after Netanyahu decided on the party primary date without consulting him.
Before the vote, Netanyahu had appealed to Likud voters to cast ballots as he feared a low turnout may play into the hands of Feiglin, a religious hardliner.
A decent showing by Feiglin could have forced Netanyahu to give him a senior leadership post, a move that could dent Likud's currently soaring ratings and hurt the party's chances for a comeback should early elections be held.
Although Netanyahu's grip on Likud was never in doubt, the primary was called because under the party's charter, a new leadership vote must be held if the party loses national elections.
During Israel's last parliamentary polls in March 2006, Likud suffered a stinging electoral defeat under Netanyahu's stewardship. It took only 12 seats in the 120-member parliament, the worst result since it won its first legislative election in 1977 and began to dominate national politics.
The humiliating reversal came four months after Netanyahu was elected chairman to replace former premier Ariel Sharon, who quit to form the centrist Kadima that won the March poll.
But the fortunes of Likud and Netanyahu have turned around, as the ratings of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Kadima have slid in the wake of last year's inconclusive war in Lebanon and a string of scandals involving senior government officials.
Today Bibi, as Netanyahu is known in Israel, is the public's first choice to be Israel's next prime minister -- 36 percent favoured him in a recent opinion poll, compared with eight percent for Olmert and 22 percent for former premier Ehud Barak.
The same poll showed that Likud would more than double its representation in the Knesset if new elections were held, winning 26 seats, more than any other party.