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Israeli poll predicts big Sharon election win
By (AFP)
Published: December 23, 2005
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Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party is on course to win more than double the number of seats than its nearest rivals in the March general election, according to a new poll on December 23.

The survey by the Ma'ariv daily found that Kadima should win 40 of the 120 seats in the March 28 election, against 19 for the center-left Labor party and 15 for the right-wing Likud, Sharon's former party.

It is the biggest lead for Kadima over Labor since Sharon formed the party and highlights how new Labor leader Amir Peretz is struggling to convince voters that he is a credible prime minister.

Asked who was best suited for the job, only 14 percent said Peretz, against 19 percent for the new Likud leader and former premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

In contrast, Sharon garnered a 46 percent figure.

The poll hints that Likud, which had been in freefall since Sharon's defection a month ago, has begun to recover some of its lost ground. Netanyahu was elected leader of the party earlier this week.

Before Sharon created Kadima and persuaded seven cabinet ministers to join his new venture, Likud had 40 seats in the Knesset while Labor had 21.

The Ma'ariv poll found that the bulk of the remaining seats will go to ultra-Orthodox or hardline nationalist parties.

A total of 550 were questioned in the survey conducted by the Tel Aviv-based Teléseker institute, a 4.2 percentage point margin of error.



© 2005 Agence France-Presse

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