MIDEAST: Polls show that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to win early elections, likely to be held on September 4th.

Record ID: 861144

  • Title: MIDEAST: Polls show that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to win early elections, likely to be held on September 4th.
  • Date: 4th May 2012
  • Summary: ROSEN READING NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING IN ENGLISH: "KNESSET AGREES ON SEPT. 4 ELECTION DATE"
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA67W1VJ5XKBKK8CY56X0MWIRAZ
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  • Story Text: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the clear favourite to win an Israeli general election likely to be held on September 4, two opinion polls published in national newspapers showed on Thursday (May 3).
    An influential member of Netanyahu's rightist Likud party said factions would vote next week to dissolve parliament and formalise the date for elections if the prime minister, as expected, would sign off on the move.
    An opinion poll in the Maariv daily indicated Netanyahu's Likud party winning 31 seats in the 120-seat parliament, a rise from its current 27 seats, with the centre-left Labour party winning 18 seats, the next biggest party in the legislature.
    Maariv said its pollsters questioned 550 respondents aged over 18, representing a cross-section of the Israeli electorate.
    The poll showed centrist Kadima, which at 28 seats won the most seats in the last elections, could be hacked down to 11 seats.
    In Jerusalem, voters said they didn't expect any significant changes due to the early elections.
    "I feel like the whole world is looking for change and there is upcoming elections in the U.S, in France, now possibly in Israel. For me, I think it will be a day off from work so I'm looking forward to that but i don't know that it will change the direction of the country in any significant way," Yael Kinar said.
    "Nothing dramatic will happen after the elections because we still have the same politicians that have no courage," said David Rosen.
    As head of the biggest party, Netanyahu would be called upon to form a new administration but he would need a number of partners to gain a parliamentary majority, a typical situation in Israel which has always been governed by coalitions.
    Professor Gideon Rahat, from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Israel Democracy Institute, said the decision was a matter of timing.
    "The longer he would have waited he would be more constrained in terms of timing. so he decided that this is the right timing. Most of the indicators at this time show that he is right but there are four to five months until the elections and things can change," Rahat said.
    In another poll, published by left-leaning Haaretz daily, 48 percent of respondents named Netanyahu as the most suitable candidate for prime minister.
    Labour's Shelly Yachimovich was second in the popularity race with 15 percent and Shaul Mofaz, who last month took over as the head of Kadima from Tsipi Livni, trails in third place with six percent.
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