Support slips further for Israel's Olmert - poll
JERUSALEM - An opinion poll published on Thursday showed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist party had only half the public support it had gained in a March election, while backing for two rightist parties had doubled.
Ultra-Orthodox men watch Israeli reserve soldiers and activists wave Israeli national flags as they protest in Jerusalem and call for an investigation into the Israeli leadership's performance during the fighting with Hezbollah Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to decide within days what kind of inquiry of war-time performance will be conducted. The most sweeping inquiry would be a state commission, with powers to dismiss government and military officials. [AP] |
The survey reported by Channel 2 television was the worst indicator for Olmert so far since his popularity began plummeting due to wide criticism of his handling of a 34-day war against Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
Army reservists have staged protests criticising Olmert for failing to crush Hizbollah which rained 4,000 rockets on northern Israel during the fighting.
The poll predicted Olmert's Kadima party would win 14 seats in parliament, down from 29, and that the left-leaning Labour party headed by Defence Minister Amir Peretz would gain just nine seats, down from a current 19.
The right-wing Likud party headed by former Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would win 24 seats, or double the 12 it won in the general election, and another rightist party, Yisrael Beitenu would win 24 up from 11 seats in parliament.
A survey last week showed Olmert's approval rating had sunk to 40 percent, down from nearly 80 percent a month ago, and that more than two-thirds of Israelis want an investigation into the war.
The latest poll also showed 73 percent of Israelis said they would also oppose a further Israeli unilateral withdrawal beyond the Gaza pullout last year.
Israeli officials have said Olmert had already put on hold his plan to remove isolated Jewish settlements from the occupied West Bank, following the war sparked by Hizbollah's capture of two soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.
Support slips further for Israel's Olmert - poll(Over)
[Click Here] Sharing with your friend in QQ/MSN!Last:RBC gets go-ahead for expansion