JERUSALEM: A pair of polls published Thursday showed opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline Likud party leading Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's moderate Kadima party in the run-up to Israel's Feb. 10 elections.
The polls also indicated strong support for Netanyahu's hard-line allies. If that support stands through the elections, it would position Netanyahu to put together a hawkish coalition that would likely end peace talks with the Palestinians, at least in their current form.
Netanyahu believes the U.S.-backed talks, which aim to establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, have been a failure and thinks negotiations should largely be limited to developing the Palestinian economy. Livni, who has been Israel's chief negotiator the past year, wants to continue the talks.
Elections were set into motion in September when Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned amid corruption charges and his deputy, Livni, was unable to form a coalition government of her own. The vote comes a year and a half ahead of schedule.
Just weeks ago, polls showed Livni and Netanyahu in a tight race. While Livni has been relatively out of sight in recent weeks, Netanyahu has been front and center adding a slew of high-profile new recruits to his party, including a former military chief and retired politicians with reputations for honesty.
A poll published in the Haaretz daily on Thursday showed Likud garnering 34 seats in the 120-seat parliament, up from its current 12, followed by Kadima with 28. Kadima, the ruling party, currently has 29 seats.
The poll forecast the once-dominant Labor, headed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, winning just 10 seats. The poll, conducted by the Dialog agency, surveyed 488 people and had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/20/news/ML-Israel-Politics.php
