Israeli Parliamentary election underway

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Source: CCTV.com | 02-10-2009 13:33

Candidates from Israel's three major political parties stepped up their campaigns in the run up to parliamentary election. Analysts say the recent Israeli offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip will play a key role in determining who becomes Israel's next prime minister.

Campaign workers for Israel's Likud party sit behind a  flag depicting party leader Benjamin Netanyahu in Kiryat  Malachi, near Ashkelon, February 9, 2009. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

The three leading candidates are Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni, Labor's Ehud Barak and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu for Likud.

Netanyahu is seen as the front-runner.

The major election issue is how to deal with the continuing threat of rocket attacks from Hamas in Gaza.

Israel launched a massive three-week offensive against the Palestinian Resistance Movement on December 27th. Nearly 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the fighting, about half of them civilians.

Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right wing Likud party, was Prime Minister from 1996 to 1999. Taking a hawkish stand, he has made his policy on Hamas clear.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Likud party leader, said, "There is only one thing that will remove the missile threat from Ashkelon and other cities and towns in Israel, and that's to bring down the Hamas government, and we will bring down Hamas government."

In a nation obsessed by security, Ehud Barak is the consummate military man and a former Chief of Staff.

Polls show Barak is the war's big winner. The popularity of his center-left Labor Party has soared in comparison with pre-war surveys.