ISRAELIS GO to the polls today with the two leading candidates, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and foreign minister Tzipi Livni, urging voters that only a vote for them would prevent the other becoming Israel’s next leader.
The vote is billed by commentators as a contest between a man the voters know but don’t particularly like, and a woman they like but don’t know very well. The last polls, published on Friday, showed that Ms Livni’s centrist Kadima had narrowed the gap, with the right-wing Likud only ahead by a margin of one to three seats in the 120-seat Knesset parliament.
Ms Livni, who favours continuing the peace process with the Palestinians, told Israeli radio yesterday “victory is in reach”, and argued that her party would be able to form the next government by bringing the right and left together. Kadima posters hammered home the message “Only Tzipi can defeat Bibi”.
Likud lost a lot of votes during the campaign to the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu led by former bouncer Avigdor Lieberman, who focused his attacks on the alleged lack of loyalty of Israel’s Arab minority.
But Mr Netanyahu, who opposes conceding land for peace, called on all right-wing voters to support Likud. “Anyone who wants me as prime minister needs to vote Likud. Otherwise he’ll get Livni and Kadima in power.”
President Shimon Peres will take into account which party receives the most seats when he decides next week who to ask to form the next government.
However, the most important factor will be which candidate has the best chance of cobbling together a stable coalition. Here, Mr Netanyahu has a clear advantage, with parties representing more than 60 seats expected to recommend him as the next premier.
Palestinian foreign minister Riad Malki accused Hamas of trying to influence the elections by continuing to fire rockets from Gaza into Israel. He said Hamas sought regional instability and hoped the Israelis would vote for an “anti-peace government”.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas made it clear he was willing to work with any Israeli prime minister, but warned that the future of the peace process will be in jeopardy if the incoming government does not stop settlement construction in the West Bank.