WORLD> Middle East
New poll shows Livni, Netanyahu in dead heat
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-31 16:38

JERUSALEM -- Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni would finish in a dead heat with hawkish opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu if voting were held today, a new poll showed Thursday, reinforcing indications that the coming Israeli election could perpetuate a peacemaking deadlock.

Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (C) attends a session of parliament commemorating Israel's Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, who was assassinated in 2001 by Palestinian militants, in Jerusalem October 29, 2008. [Agencies]

The survey, published in the Haaretz daily, also showed an even split between Israel's hardline and moderate parties, a divided that has crippled peacemaking for years.

The findings of the Dialog survey were in line with other polls that have been conducted since Livni, head of the ruling Kadima Party, gave up on efforts to form a new governing coalition Sunday. The decision put early elections in motion, and on Thursday, the official date was set for February 10.

The poll indicates that Kadima and Netanyahu's Likud would each take 31 of parliament's 120 seats.

As foreign minister, Livni has been Israel's chief peace negotiator with the Palestinians for the past year, and repeatedly has spoken of the need to cede war-captured land as part of a peace deal.

But the breakdown reflected in the poll suggests that if she were to form Israel's next government, she would have to bring in hawkish partners who would make it difficult to push through such concessions.

Netanyahu takes a hard line against ceding captured territory and has ruled out partitioning Jerusalem, a key Palestinian demand. The poll suggests that hawkish parties would win 61 seats.

The survey questioned 491 people and had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

Livni became Kadima chief last month after multiple corruption allegations forced Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down as party chairman. She tried to keep the current government intact, but a key coalition partner made new demands she refused to accept, forcing new elections.

Security will be a chief concern of Israeli voters when they go to the polls, and the Dialog survey gave Livni poor marks while giving Netanyahu top grade.

Asked who is most able to deal with Israel's security problems, 33 percent of respondents answered Netanyahu, 26 percent said Defense Minister Ehud Barak, head of the Labor Party, and 14 percent said Livni. The poll forecast the once-dominant Labor would win just 10 seats in the next election.

Israel's political turmoil has injected an unsettling uncertainty into already troubled peacemaking with the Palestinians, which resumed last November after seven years of violence.

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