Hardline Likud party making comeback, says poll

Israel’s hardline Likud party would score a big win at the expense of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima and his main partner Labour – a complete turnaround – if elections were held now, according to a poll published today.

The poll reflected Olmert’s sharp loss of support since last summer’s war in Lebanon, which ended without accomplishing the two main goals Olmert set out - crippling Hezbollah guerrillas and returning two captured Israeli soldiers.

The poll published on the website of the Yediot Ahronot daily showed Likud, led by ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu, winning 32 seats of the 120 in parliament. Kadima and Labour would win only nine each.

The poll, which questioned 500 voters and quoted a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points, showed that undecided voters accounted for the equivalent of 24 seats.

Likud ran the government from 1977 to 2006, interrupted only by two short terms with Labour premiers. Likud traditionally opposed compromises with the Palestinians, but in recent years has softened that policy.