Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahu conceded defeat to Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon today in the race for the Likud party leadership after exit polls projected a sweeping victory for the incumbent.
Mr Netanyahu, a former prime minister, congratulated Mr Sharon in a phone call, a Mr Netanyahu spokesman said.
A Channel One exit poll gave Sharon 61 per cent of the votes compared to 37 percent for Mr Netanyahu among the 305,000 members of the right-wing Likud. A Channel Two poll put the figures at 58 per cent for Mr Sharon and 40.5 per cent for Netanyahu.
Victory would be Mr Sharon's first step on the road to retaining the prime minister's post which he has held for almost two years because Likud is widely expected to defeat the centre-left Labour Pary in a general election on January 28th.