By Prensa Latina,
Tel Aviv : Israel’s main political leaders have intensified their vote-catching actions prior to Tuesday’s parliamentary elections, during which the right wing might win the majority of votes, according to surveys.
The leader of the conservative Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, is the favorite to become Israel’s prime minister, although given the atomization of the political spectrum, he will have to ally to small ultraorthodox and extreme rightwing groups.
Like the rest of the candidates to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Netanyahu’s speeches have focused on the recent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and the stagnated peace talks with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
According to recent polls, the Likud’s closest rival is the Kadima party, headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livne, who may win 23-25 seats in the Kesset or parliament, compared to 25-27 possible votes by Likud.
Kadima dominates the outgoing coalition, which includes Defense Minister and Labor leader Ehud Barak, who was pushed into the fourth place in the campaign, due to the promotion of Avigdor Lieberman, of the ultra rightwing Yisrael Beiteinu party.
Support for an anti-Palestinian and, in the end, anti-Arab discourse was evident by most Israelis’ approval of the bombings on the Gaza Strip, where more than 1,300 people were killed and 5,300 were wounded.