January 19, 2003

Likud, Labor concentrate campaigns on attracting undecided voters

By Gil Hoffman

Likud and Labor started the stretch drives of their campaigns on Sunday with attacks on the National Religious Party, National Union, and Shas from different perspectives, in an effort to attract undecided voters.

A Dahaf Institute poll published Sunday revealed that some 20 percent of the population is still undecided. While many of the undecided voters may not end up going to the polls on January 28, the survey indicated that more than 20 mandates are still up in the air.

The Likud premiered a new campaign commercial featuring Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu telling voters on the Right that with the return to the single ballot, indirect election system, they must select Likud to guarantee that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon keeps his post.

"Anyone who doesn't want Labor Party chairman Amram Mitzna as prime minister must vote only for the Likud under Sharon, and not any other parties or splinters of parties," he said.

Sharon spoke directly to voters on the Right at a campaign rally in Ashkelon on Sunday night, saying, "You can't say you want me and vote for a smaller party. It's either Sharon or [Avigdor] Lieberman [the National Union], Sharon or Shas, and whoever tells you differently is misleading the nation."

In a Tel Aviv press conference, Education Minister Limor Livnat called upon voters to allow Sharon build the stable government the state requires and prevent small parties from extorting him. The Likud's public relations team attacked the NRP and Shas for sitting in a Labor-led government and called the National Union "a serial toppler of right-wing governments."

National Union MK Tzvi Hendel responded by saying that a strong National Union is the only way to prevent Sharon from establishing a Palestinian state. He said that "real Likudniks" would vote for his party to ensure that Sharon does not implement the policies of Labor.

Livnat said she still expects Labor to join a national-unity government and that she does not take seriously Mitzna's repeated declarations ruling it out.

"After the elections, the music changes," Livnat said. "I don't see how Labor can remain outside the government under these economic and security conditions, with a possible war with Iraq ahead." Mitzna told Channel 1 that "if, heaven forbid, Sharon continues to lead the government, I will lead Labor as a fighting opposition."

Labor debuted a commercial featuring Netanyahu's rival in the 1996 election, MK Shimon Peres, warning voters that Sharon would form "a right-wing extremist government" with NRP chairman Efi Eitam, Lieberman, and Shas head Eli Yishai that could threaten the country's reputation on the international diplomatic scene.

The campaign is aimed at undecided voters on the Left who are considering voting for Shinui because of party leader Yosef (Tommy) Lapid's promises of a "secular national-unity government" of Likud, Labor, and Shinui. Peres said that Labor would keep its promise to stay out of a national-unity government led by Sharon.

"Shinui is selling people an illusion," Peres said. "There's no way in the world Sharon can form a national-unity government. We will not join him, and Sharon will end up forming an extreme right-wing government."

Peres was one of the strongest supporters of Labor joining Sharon's government in 2001. Other Labor MKs who backed becoming part of the coalition two years ago said they have since changed their minds.

A former member of Sharon's cabinet, who is not an ally of Mitzna, said he is against joining a Likud-led government specifically because Labor is so weak in the polls.

"If we fail to attract 20 mandates, then the voters are sending us a message," he said. "We would have no choice but to sit in the opposition to rebuild the party."

Knesset candidate Isaac Herzog said he also supported joining Sharon's government in 2000, but thinks differently today.

"Labor was irrelevant in Sharon's national-unity government," he said. "None of its initiatives were adopted by Sharon. There is a big difference between what he says and what he does."

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