ISRAEL: Israeli leaders campaign on eve of general elections as voting gets underway in military bases and prisons

Record ID: 345866

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israeli leaders campaign on eve of general elections as voting gets underway in military bases and prisons
  • Date: 10th February 2009
  • Summary: MOUNT HERMON, GOLAN HEIGHTS (FEBRUARY 9, 2009) (REUTERS) ISRAELI SOLDIERS CASTING BALLOTS IN EARLY VOTING, IN AN ARMY POST LOCATED ON SNOWY MOUNT HERMON SOLDIERS NEAR TABLE, REGISTRATION SOLDIERS VOTING NOTEBOOKS READING 'ELECTIONS TO THE 18TH. KNESSET' SOLDIER APPROACHING BALLOT BOX VARIOUS OF SOLDIER CASTING HIS BALLOT FEMALE SOLDIER INSERTING VOTE INTO BALLOT BOX MORE
  • Embargoed: 25th February 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAAJA65CNCHCD5XAA2XDU4Y16L
  • Story Text: The leading candidates in Israel's general election took to the campaign trail on Monday (February 9) just hours before the country goes to the polls.
    But some voting has already taken place.
    Soldiers at military bases and in prisons were able to cast their ballots.
    Tuesday's (February 10) election is likely to be a cliff-hanger, pollsters said on the eve of the vote in which right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party had been forecast to emerge victorious.
    Israel's centrist Kadima party, led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, failed to form a new government following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's resignation in a corruption scandal, forcing the election.
    Livni herself, in a last ditch effort to catch at least 10% of the Israeli public still undecided, took a train ride to southern Israel in a bid to gather more support.
    The election race has focused on security issues in the wake of Israel's 22-day Gaza offensive. Leading candidates have stepped up efforts to try to woo those still on the fence, mostly by attacking rivals.
    Netanyahu, who met with Yuval Rabin, son of late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, is in no doubt who is going to emerge triumphant.

    "I intend to win the elections tomorrow and to establish as wide a government as possible with all of the Zionist parties that will join us in order to push off the dangers of existence and security of the state of Israel."
    Yuval Rabin was criticised during the meeting for his support of Netanyahu with one man being removed by security after an outburst in which he said Rabin should be ashamed of himself.
    Livni, who hopes to become the first female prime minister since Golda Meir in the 1970s, has painted Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak of Labour, both former prime ministers, as failures.
    Barak himself toured the country on Monday and visited a school where he planted a tree and greeted children.
    Israeli President Shimon Peres chided candidates for focusing on personality issues rather than on matters at the core of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
    In Tuesday's election, the Knesset's seats are allocated by proportional representation to national party lists.
    Once the results are in, Peres consults with party leaders and picks a legislator to try to form a government. Traditionally, the task goes to the leader of the party that wins the most votes. He or she has 42 days to form a government.
    The first votes have already been cast. Soldiers at a snowy outpost on the Golan Heights cast their ballots, while in the West Bank at a military prison guards there were also able to make their choice.
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