Poll: Kadima party gaining strength
Yedioth Ahronoth, Dr. Mina Tzemach poll shows Sharon’s Kadima party gaining strength with addition of Mofaz, set to gain 41 Knesset seats in upcoming March general elections; another survey says Mofaz’s credibility tainted due to his defection from Likud
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Kadima party is gaining strength with the addition of Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and is set to gain 41 Knesset seats in the upcoming March general elections, a poll conducted by Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth and Dr. Mina Tzemach showed.
According to the poll, Labor dropped two seats to 21, and Likud is expected to receive an all-time low of 11 seats, down two from the last poll, and only one more than Shas.
Meretz-Yahad and the National Religious Party are set to gain 4 seats each, the poll showed.
Another poll conducted by Professor Yitzhak Katz gave Likud 16 seats, with Labor dropping to only 18.
However, a Maagar Mochot Institute survey showed Mofaz’s credibility has suffered a blow due to his defection from Likud. Participants in the poll gave the defense minister a poor 5.1 overall credibility rating out of a possible 10.
Sixty seven percent of the participants said the fact that Mofaz joined Kadima would not influence them vote for the party.
Taking advantage of 'presidential decree'
Tensions within Likud soared on Sunday, after Mofaz announced his decision to join Kadima.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently the leading candidate to succeed Sharon in the party, said at an activists meeting in Haifa that Kadima's platform highly resembles that of Labor, adding that "we should ask ourselves whether the parties are not too similar as well."
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin accused Mofaz of turning his back to the party that supported him throughout his political career.
"What didn't we give? People who achieved what they have only thanks to us are now spitting us in the face," Rivlin blasted.
Meanwhile, Likud members are currently working to forge a coalition of 63 Knesset members that would dethrone the prime minister ahead of the upcoming elections, scheduled for March 28.
The ambitious move aims to take advantage of the “presidential decree” set to go into effect within two weeks, allowing any Knesset member that presents majority support of 61 MKs to be appointed as prime minister until the elections date established by law, that is, November 2006.
The scheme apparently aims to bring together the Likud, Labor, Shinui, and the National Religious Party while keeping far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties out of the picture.
Notably, the four above-mentioned parties total 63 Knesset members (26 in Likud, 18 in Labor, 14 in Shinui, and 5 in the NRP.)
Should the four parties join forces and agree on a Sharon replacement, they would present the candidate before the president and effectively remove the prime minister from his post.
