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Likud First, Governing Kadima Fourth in Israel
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition Likud party is the most popular political organization in Israel, according to a poll by Dialog published in Haaretz. The results suggest Likud, led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would secure 29 seats in the next election to the Knesset.
The Labour party of Amir Peretz would finish second with 18 mandates, followed by Israel Our Home under Avigdor Lieberman with 14 seats, the governing Kadima party of prime minister Ehud Olmert with 12 mandates, and the International Organization of Torah-observant Sephardic Jews (Shas) with 10 seats.
In March 2006, Israeli voters renewed the Knesset. Kadima, founded by former prime minister Ariel Sharon and led by Olmert, secured 29 seats. Labour, the Retired People's Party (Gil) and Shas joined Kadima in a coalition. In October, the Israeli cabinet approved the addition of Israel Our Home to the government. Olmert's coalition now has the support of 78 of the Knesset's 120 members.
The Labour party will hold a leadership primary on May 28. The list of candidates includes Peretz, former Israeli admiral Ami Ayalon, former prime minister Ehud Barak, and current lawmakers Ophir Paz-Pines and Danny Yatom.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu suggested enacting an economic boycott on Iran, declaring, "I intend to turn to investment funds in the United States and tell them not to put one dollar into investments in Iran. This turned into a snowball effect against the South African apartheid regime and it can be the snowball against the regime of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
Netanyahu served as prime minister from June 1996 to July 1999, and resigned from Sharon's cabinet—where he held the finance portfolio—after opposing the "Disengagement Plan."
Polling Data
Prospective results of a Knesset election
(Results presented in seats)
Jan. 2007 | Nov. 2006 | |
Likud (Consolidation) | 29 | 28 |
Labour | 18 | 14 |
Israel Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu) | 14 | 15 |
Kadima (Forward) | 12 | 17 |
International Organization of | 10 | 11 |
National Union (Ikhud) and | 9 | 9 |
Yahadut Hatorah (United Torah Judaism) | 7 | 7 |
Together (Yachad) | 6 | 6 |
Gil (Retired People's Party) | 4 | 2 |
Arab parties | 11 | 11 |
Source: Dialog / Haaretz
Methodology: Interviews with 500 Israeli adults, conducted on Jan. 9, 2007. Margin of error is 4.9 per cent.