Israel

[danny]

Another interesting part of the poll is that apparently bibi gets  78% favourable ratings for his handling of the recent forest fires that killed 42 people.

[Thomas216]

One should note that Netanyahu is a notoriously bad campaigner. Both in 2006 and 2009 it almost looked as if he doesn't want to win. In 2009 Likud reached heights of about 35 mandates before collapsing And eventually finishing second behind Kadima.

Regarding Labour, their rationale is clear- if they want to become the largest left-wing party they must differentiate themselves from Kadima. That means if Kadima's in the coalition they are not and the other way around. It obviously doesn't work but that is the general idea.

[danny]

Regarding Labour, their rationale is clear- if they want to become the largest left-wing party they must differentiate themselves from Kadima. That means if Kadima's in the coalition they are not and the other way around. It obviously doesn't work but that is the general idea.

I think your giving Labour too much credit for having a plan for the elections, I don't think they do. As long as the ruling faction within labour of barak and the union remains in power the party doesn't really care much about future elections because I don't think Barak plans to lead Labour in another election and the union doesn't need Labour anymore anyway.