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Netanyahu's Likud pulls ahead in Israeli poll
20 Nov 2008 08:03:57 GMT
 Source: Reuters
JERUSALEM, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opposition right-wing Likud party pulled ahead of Israel's ruling centrist Kadima party in opinion polls on Thursday, three months before a parliamentary election.

"Bibi is taking off," read a headline in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, using Netanyahu's nickname.

Its Yedioth/Dahaf survey gave Likud 32 seats in the 120-member parliament to 26 for Kadima, led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

A poll in the Haaretz newspaper predicted Likud would win 34 seats to 28 for Kadima in the Feb. 10 election forced by the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a corruption scandal and Livni's failure to form a coalition government.

Opinion polls last month showed Kadima and Likud running neck-and-neck. Kadima took 29 seats in the previous parliamentary election in 2006 to 12 for Likud.

Commentary accompanying the polls attributed Likud's lead to its recent recruitment of several widely respected figures in Israel, including the son of the late prime minister, Menachem Begin, and a retired chief of staff of the armed forces.

Netanyahu also has been increasingly vocal about his future approach to peace talks with the Palestinians, saying he would focus on ways to build up their economy rather than on territorial issues.

The latest opinion polls indicated a continuing decline in the fortunes of the centre-left Labour Party led by Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

Labour, once a political powerhouse that led a series of coalition governments, was forecast to capture only between eight and 11 parliamentary seats. It won 19 seats in the previous election.

The polls surveyed some 500 people and had a margin of error of around 4.5 percent. (Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Michael Roddy)


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