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Likud Holds 12-Seat Advantage in Israel
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The rightist Likud party remains the dominant force in the early stages of Israel’s legislative contest, according to a poll by Geocartographia released by Israel Television. A prospective tally shows Likud could win 37 seats in next year’s election, while the governing Kadima would finish second with 25 mandates.
The International Organization of Torah-observant Sephardic Jews (Shas) is third with 11 seats, followed by three parties—Israel Our Home, Meretz-Yachad, and United Torah Judaism—with eight 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. 30, Netanyahu presented his plan to deal with the economy—which includes proposals to expand Israel’s highway and railway infrastructure—saying, "It won’t take days or weeks, but we can get these reforms moving within a few quarters. We will emerge from the crisis stronger. We will create new jobs. To prevent unemployment from rising, we must create thousands of jobs."
Polling Data
Prospective results of a Knesset election
(Results presented in seats)
|
Likud (Consolidation) |
37 |
|
Kadima (Forward) |
25 |
|
International Organization of Torah-observant Sephardic Jews (Shas) |
11 |
|
Israel Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu) |
8 |
|
Vitality-Together (Meretz-Yachad) |
8 |
|
Yahadut Hatorah (United Torah Judaism) |
8 |
|
Labour |
7 |
|
Jewish Home (National Union and NRP) |
4 |
|
Green Party (Yerukim) |
3 |
|
Arab parties |
9 |
Source: Geocartographia / Israel Television
Methodology: Interviews with 600 Israeli adults, conducted on Nov. 24, 2008. Margin of error is 4.5 per cent.