“The changeover is not so unattainable,” Menahem Rahat, told Israel National News. “In the end, it’s only a question of shifting ten mandates [in the Knesset] from one side to the other. It could be that on the final night, a change might occur.”
Rahat explained that if the Likud party succeeds in attaining ten more seats than predicted, “the picture changes such that the Likud can form the next government with Shas, the National Union-NRP, United Torah Judaism, a right-wing government the right is hoping for.”
Rahat added that in face-to-face meetings between right-wing activists and potential voters, the campaigners are telling potential sympathizers that if they cannot vote for a right-wing party, then the Likud can provide an alternative.
The Likud, headed by former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, takes a more middle-of-the road stance regarding retaining areas of Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu has not ruled out making further withdrawals from those areas, but he has conditioned such withdrawals on a obtaining a viable agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
Rahat said he recently read that Netanyahu had effectively conceded the race to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima party. “It’s hard for me to believe that a person like Netanyahu has given up at this stage, 30 days before the election, as activists attempt to show him that the race is still open.”
Rahat said that the 2006 campaign is turning out different from those that preceded it, because “everything seems stagnant, as if fate has determined the outcome. On the other hand, the campaign is bubbling over behind the scenes.”
“What’s so unusual about this race is that more or less all of the polls are showing the same results,” Rahat said. Many people, however, are not convinced that the polls are accurate. “In the end though, they’re convinced that if all the polls say the same thing, there must be some truth to them.”
Rahat explained that if the Likud party succeeds in attaining ten more seats than predicted, “the picture changes such that the Likud can form the next government with Shas, the National Union-NRP, United Torah Judaism, a right-wing government the right is hoping for.”
Rahat added that in face-to-face meetings between right-wing activists and potential voters, the campaigners are telling potential sympathizers that if they cannot vote for a right-wing party, then the Likud can provide an alternative.
The Likud, headed by former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, takes a more middle-of-the road stance regarding retaining areas of Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu has not ruled out making further withdrawals from those areas, but he has conditioned such withdrawals on a obtaining a viable agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
Rahat said he recently read that Netanyahu had effectively conceded the race to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima party. “It’s hard for me to believe that a person like Netanyahu has given up at this stage, 30 days before the election, as activists attempt to show him that the race is still open.”
Rahat said that the 2006 campaign is turning out different from those that preceded it, because “everything seems stagnant, as if fate has determined the outcome. On the other hand, the campaign is bubbling over behind the scenes.”
“What’s so unusual about this race is that more or less all of the polls are showing the same results,” Rahat said. Many people, however, are not convinced that the polls are accurate. “In the end though, they’re convinced that if all the polls say the same thing, there must be some truth to them.”