RAMALLAH: A new Israeli public opinion poll yesterday predicted a landslide victory for Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni over her main opponent, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz to succeed incumbent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as chair of the ruling Kadima party and possibly prime minister.
The poll, conducted by the Israeli daily Haaretz and Channel 10 TV predicted that Livni will win 47 percent of the vote today and Mofaz 28 percent, while Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit and Public Security Minister Avi Dichter would get 6 percent each.
Olmert has been questioned under caution by detectives of the police’s National Fraud Unit for the sixth time in last months over criminal investigations against him. Forced by the investigations and calls from his political rivals to resign, Olmert announced July 30 that he will step down after his ruling Kadima party selects a new leader.
The poll, conducted among 1,808 registered voters shows that even in a second-round runoff vote, Livni would beat Mofaz by a 17 percent margin, with 50 percent versus 33 percent.
However, Mofaz told a women’s rally: “The media will not determine the outcome and neither will the polls. People will decide.”
Mofaz predicted that “by Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year which begins Oct. 2), we’ll be ready to set the foundation for the coalition so that by November, I will present the new coalition.”
Mofaz said that from his talks “with faction heads within and outside the coalition, there is a common understanding on establishing a coalition based on the current one.”
Livni, meanwhile, warned voters not to allow her lead in the polls to make them complacent. “Not voting is an irresponsible act. We can’t afford it,” Livni said at a rally in Tel Aviv.
According to the Livni campaign, between 13 and 18 percent of Kadima voters remained undecided two days before the vote.
The opposition Likud party released a list of messages it will try to promote ahead of the Kadima primary about how whomever wins the race was part of the failure of Olmert’s government and emphasizing that there was no chance of Likud joining a Kadima-led government.
