- Title: MIDEAST: Israeli PM Netanyahu hopes for strong finish after election poll dip.
- Date: 21st January 2013
- Summary: JERUSALEM (JANUARY 21, 2013) (REUTERS) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU MAKING WAY TO PODIUM VARIOUS OF NETANYAHU, STANDING SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH MOSHE KAHLON, ISRAELI MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MAYOR OF JERUSALEM NIR BARKAT (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU SAYING "When you vote for a big ruling party you vote for a united Jerusal
- Embargoed: 5th February 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5XXB8SQZYL77P4BCC91NBNRH
- Story Text: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered a final day of campaigning on Monday (January 21) hoping to recover from an opinion polls' dip in an election that could result in the most right-wing government in Israel's history.
Watching high-tech millionaire Naftali Bennett's far-right Jewish Home party chip away at his right-wing Likud's lead in the last stretch of a largely lacklustre campaign, Netanyahu turned his focus to Israelis' pocketbooks in a bid for votes.
At a news conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu made an appeal to wavering supporters to "come home".
"When you vote for a big ruling party you vote for a united Jerusalem; for security; for jobs and for the economy and most importantly it gives us the power to lower the cost of housing. Therefore I have a good feeling. And at the last minute, I appeal to each and every citizen going to the ballot box: 'Decide for whom you are going to vote - for a divided and weak Israel or a for a united and strong Israel and a large governing party which will bring about the changes Israelis desperately hope for. I have no doubt that many, many people will decide at the last minute to come home to Likud-Yisrael Beitenu. There is no other ruling party,"
said Netanyahu.
Final opinion polls, on Friday (January 18), showed Netanyahu's right-wing Likud, running on a joint parliamentary candidates' list with former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman's ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, still set to win.
Tzahi Hanegbi, a senior Likud minister, reiterated Netanyahu's appeal during a party briefing in Tel Aviv.
"He needs a strong government, he needs a stable coalition, he needs to be able to confront the challenges that we face with a lot of support," Hanegbi said.
But the surveys indicated Netanyahu's support had dipped to its lowest point so far and forecast that a potential right-wing and religious bloc of parties led by Likud-Yisrael Beitenu would have a slim parliamentary majority of 63 out of 120 seats.
If the polls are correct -- and they have been famously inaccurate in several past elections -- Likud and Yisrael Beitenu would capture 10 seats fewer than they took in the previous national ballot in 2009.
A relatively weak showing would make Netanyahu, who has pledged throughout the campaign to pursue settlement building in the occupied West Bank, more susceptible to the demands of prospective coalition partners, including Bennett, and religious parties.
Second place, according to the polls, will go to the centre-left Labour Party led by Shelly Yachimovich, a former journalist who has focused on economic and social issues in the campaign and ruled out joining up with Netanyahu.
On Monday Yachimovich attacked Netanyahu's latest decision to appoint Moshe Kahlon, who as his widely-popular Communications Minister won public accolades for bringing down the price of cellular services, to oversee government land allocation - with the aim of reducing housing prices.
"During Netahyahu's term, in the past four years, the cost of housing rose by 48 percent. This is the truth Netanyahu did not want you to hear. During Netanyahu's term the gap between real-estate index and the average monthly income increased by 40 percent. This is the truth Netanyahu did not want you to know. Netanyahu is getting weaker in the polls and he knows that very well," she told a news conference in Tel Aviv.
Also on Monday, leader of the centrist Hatenuah party, Tzipi Livni, canvassed for votes in a Tel Aviv shopping centre.
"I repeatedly ask them to vote not just for our philosophy but also for our experience and don't be tempted to.. as I said before - choose the origin, not copycats who do not know how to handle these things," she said.
Livni, a former foreign minister and peace negotiator, is predicted to win nine seats.
Although support for centre-left parties has edged higher, their leaders failed to present a united front or persuade Israelis, alarmed by turmoil in neighbouring Arab states, they are ready to take charge of the country. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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