(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The Likud party is ahead of all rivals in Israel, according to a poll by New Wave published in Yisrael Hayom. A prospective tally shows Likud could win 33 seats in next year’s legislative election, up four seats since October.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The Likud party is ahead of all rivals in Israel, according to a poll by New Wave published in Yisrael Hayom. A prospective tally shows Likud could win 33 seats in next year’s legislative election, up four seats since October.
The governing Kadima party is second with 28 mandates, followed by Labour with 11 seats, and the International Organization of Torah-observant Sephardic Jews (Shas) with 10 mandates.
In March 2006, Israeli voters renewed the Knesset. Kadima, founded by former prime minister Ariel Sharon and led by Ehud Olmert, secured 29 seats in the legislature. Labour, Shas and the Retired People’s Party (Gil) joined Kadima in a coalition. In October, the Israeli cabinet approved the addition of Israel Our Home to the Olmert-led government.
In May, Israeli police raided the offices of Jerusalem’s city government and seized documents related to Olmert’s tenure as mayor, from 1993 to 2003. In July, Olmert announced that he would not participate in an extraordinary internal ballot for Kadima’s leadership. In September, Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni defeated transportation minister Shaul Mofaz in a close race to become Kadima’s new leader.
Livni was supposed to take over as Israel’s prime minister, but was unable to assemble a government. A snap election will take place on Feb. 10, 2009.
On Nov. 19, Labour leader and current defence minister Ehud Barak discussed global affairs, saying, "The triad of nuclear proliferation, radical Muslim terror, and rogue states, epitomized in the Iran case, can be defeated only through a paradigm shift in international relationships. (…) The time for sanctions is still there, but it is short. The way I see to make it effective is to cut through the psychological obstacles about cooperating with Russia and China and open a new discourse."
Polling Data
Prospective results of a Knesset election
(Results presented in seats)
|
Nov. 2008 |
Oct. 2008 |
|
|
Likud (Consolidation) |
33 |
31 |
|
Kadima (Forward) |
28 |
30 |
|
Labour |
11 |
13 |
|
International Organization of |
10 |
10 |
|
Israel Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu) |
7 |
8 |
|
Vitality-Together (Meretz-Yachad) |
7 |
5 |
|
National Union (Ikhud) and |
6 |
6 |
|
Yahadut Hatorah (United Torah Judaism) |
5 |
5 |
|
Green Party (Yerukim) |
3 |
2 |
|
Arab Parties |
10 |
10 |
Source: New Wave / Yisrael Hayom
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 623 Israeli adults, conducted on Nov. 12, 2008. Margin of error is 4 per cent.
