Majority of Israelis no longer have faith in the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and want early elections, according to a poll released on Wednesday by Channel 10 television. 57 per cent respondents favored an early election, 28 per cent were against it while 15 percent of them expressed no opinion, it said.
In response to another question whether Olmert should stay on as prime minister, 72 per cent said he should quit, against 17 percent who said he should stay on. Among the reasons cited by respondents who wanted Olmert to quit were failures in last year's 34-day Lebanon war, when Israeli military was unable to break the resistance of Hezbollah movement, and a series of scandals to which Olmert has been linked.
The poll also showed that Olmert's rating as a potential candidate for premier in a new government has plummeted. Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing opposition Likud Party, was front-runner at 30 percent. Following him in popularity were retired admiral Ami Ayalon and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, both of the center-left Labor Party, who were seen taking 18 and 12 percent of votes respectively. Olmert garnered only 3 percent and his defense minister, current Labor leader Amir Peretz, came last with 1 percent. |