Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon has sought to contain a bribery scandal that threatens to turn voters away from his Likud party which faces a general election in January.
Candidates in the internal Likud ballot have said publicly they were approached by senior party activists who promised to swing votes their way in return for money.
Taking a tough line to try to prevent Likud haemorrhaging support before the January 28th general election, Sharon said he would expel any party members involved in corruption over a ballot in which they chose a list of top election candidates.
"Every person who is found to have done anything improper - I will make sure they are expelled from Likud. I will make sure of this," Mr Sharon said in a television interview.
"It is not important to me if he is a Knesset (parliament) member or a minister. I will make sure he is not on the (election) list."
Mr Sharon wants to win as many seats as possible to improve his chances of forming a strong government, although he is unlikely to be able to rule without forming a coalition.
His comments appeared designed to give the impression he is ready to get tough over the scandal in an effort to stop his right-wing party's commanding lead in opinion polls from sliding.
Despite the launching of a police investigation into the allegations, the latest opinion polls project Likud will come in first with 34 to 35 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, compared to earlier projections of about 38 mandates.