Tel Aviv - Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz will demand a recount of Wednesday's primary vote in Israel's ruling Kadima party, supporters said early Thursday after he narrowed his gap behind front-runner Tzipi Livni.

With some 80 per cent of the vote counted by early Thursday, Foreign Minister Livni stood at 45.9 per cent of the vote, against 41.1 per cent for Mofaz, giving her a lead of 4.8 per cent, Israel Radio reported.

Livni's campaign headquarters and those of Mofaz, however, each said they had separately counted 100 per cent of the votes and that according to their counts, Livni beat Mofaz by under 500 and 400 votes respectively, or by little more than 1 per cent.

Kadima legislator and Mofaz supporter Ronit Tirosh demanded that the chairman of Kadima's election committee prevent Livni from declaring victory until alleged "irregularities" were investigated.

Lawmaker Zeev Elkin, another Mofaz supporter, said that his campaign headquarters would demand a recount of all ballot boxes.

Exit polls had predicted a clear victory for Livni over Mofaz by a margin of at least 10 per cent, giving her 47-49 per cent of the vote and Mofaz 37 per cent.

Livni was expected at Kadima election headquarters in northern Tel Aviv to give her victory speech, but had not arrived near dawn. (dpa)