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Kadima does well in polling despite Sharon's illness
Ariel Sharon's party and his likely successor Ehud Olmert received a boost Wednesday from polls showing they would easily win Israel's March election even without the incapacitated prime minister at the helm. The latest surveys put Sharon's centrist Kadima Party well ahead of its rivals, though campaigning has been frozen since the 77-year-old leader suffered a massive stroke a week ago.Kadima, which Sharon formed to capitalize on broad backing for Israel's Gaza pullout in September, already had been widely favored to win a sweeping victory in the March 28 election. But after the January 4 stroke, many political analysts had questioned whether the party, largely seen as a product of the force of Sharon's personality and shifting approach to the Palestinians, could survive. However, polls in the Haaretz and Maariv dailies found that Kadima led by interim Prime Minister Olmert, Sharon's deputy, would take 44-45 seats in Israel's 120-seat Parliament, its strongest showing so far. The polls predicted the center-left Labor Party under Amir Peretz would get 16-18 seats while the rightist Likud, led by Benjamin Netanyahu after Sharon's defection, would fall to third place with 13-15 seats. Labor secretary general Eitan Cabel dismissed Kadima's rise in the polls as an "expression of public sympathy" for Sharon and predicted the effects would wear off. Even Kadima's campaign manager, Cabinet minister Tsahi Hanegbi, voiced surprise, saying: "Some of this is certainly an emotional vote." Many Israelis doubt Olmert, 60, a former Jerusalem mayor and Sharon loyalist who has served in the prime minister's shadow, has the stature and charisma to take bold steps with the Palestinians that Sharon may have envisioned. Much of Sharon's popularity in Israel stems from a belief that he could take diplomatic action that no one else could get away with, given his background as an archetypal hawk. Posted by: Fred 2006-01-12 |
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