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Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaks at a ceremony in Jerusalem Tuesday. (AP)
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(AP)
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Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to supporters in Ashdod, Monday. (AP)
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| By Associated Press March 2, 2006 |
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A poll published Wednesday showed the centrist Kadima party founded by Ariel Sharon losing some support but still holding a wide lead over its two main rivals, four weeks ahead of March 28 elections.
The weekly poll for the Haaretz daily and Channel 10 TV showed Kadima winning 37 seats in the 120-member parliament, down two from the week before. However, the hard-line Likud, with 15 seats, and moderate Labor, with 19, were not mounting a significant challenge, the survey found.
The poll, conducted by the Dialog firm headed by Kamil Fuchs, questioned 590 voters and quoted a 4.1 percent margin of error.
Sharon founded Kadima in November after bolting Likud because of its opposition to his pullout from the Gaza Strip last summer. Initial polls showed the party winning more than 40 seats.
Sharon was felled by a massive stroke on Jan. 4 and has not regained consciousness. His closest political ally, Ehud Olmert, has taken over as acting prime minister and Kadima candidate for premier.
Likud, meanwhile, voted Wednesday to change its method of selecting candidates for parliament, stripping its 3,000-member central committee of that power. The committee itself voted for the change at the insistence of the party leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. The committee chose the candidates for the current election, and starting with the next one, party members would vote in a primary election.
The Likud central committee has been reviled in recent years as a source of raw abuse of power, with members allegedly forcing Likud members of parliament to hire relatives and hand out jobs as the price for keeping their places in the house. Netanyahu hoped the change would motivate Likud voters who have defected to Kadima to return.
In the outgoing parliament, Likud had 40 seats and Labor 21.
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