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Polls show Sharon returning to PM's seat
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-22 20:00
On Monday, Sharon officially parted ways with the party he helped establish
more than three decades ago, saying his recent Gaza Strip pullout created
historic opportunities that should not be squandered. The break from Likud
cemented his transformation from the hawkish patron of Israel's settler movement
to a moderate peacemaker reconciled to the inevitability of a Palestinian state.
His new party, as yet unnamed, will compete in early elections expected to be
held in March.
Sharon's twin messages of territorial concessions toward the Palestinians and
a hard line against Palestinian militants have made him Israel's most popular
politician. Surveys published on Tuesday showed him heading to a third term as
premier.
A Teleseker poll published in the Maariv newspaper showed Sharon's new party
dominating the 120-member Knesset with 30 seats. The Labor Party, led by union
boss Amir Peretz, would receive 26 seats and Likud would receive 15 seats if
former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replaces Sharon as party head, as
expected. The poll questioned 532 people and had a margin of error of 4.1
percentage points.
A poll in the Yediot Ahronot daily said Sharon's party would win 33 seats,
Labor 26 and a Netanyahu-led Likud, 12. The survey questioned 702 people and had
a margin of error of about 3.8 percentage points.
Sharon was not seen as likely to seek a coalition with Likud if his party
were to win the most seats in parliament and is tapped to put together Israel's
next government. "Otherwise he would have stayed in the Likud Party and agreed
to the opposition of the so-called rebels," said Avraham Brichta, a political
scientist at the University of Haifa.
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