79% Want Olmert out of Primary Race

Source: Al-Manar TV, 11-07-2008

Most registered Kadima voters believe Prime Minister Ehud Olmert should not run in the primary elections for party chairmanship scheduled for mid-September, this according to a poll published on Friday by Yedioth Ahronoth.

The survey of 508 registered Kadima voters, which was conducted by the Dahaf Institute, showed that 79% of them believe Olmert should resign amid the ongoing corruption investigation against him, while only 17% of the party's registered voters believe he should not step down.

According to the poll, a total of 57% of the registered members believe the prime minister, who is expected to be questioned by police for the third time regarding the hundreds of thousands of dollars he allegedly received over a 15-year period from Jewish-American businessman Morris Talansky, should not run in the primaries and should not take part in the primary elections.

The survey further revealed that should Olmert decide to run for party leadership, he would lose to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who, according to the poll, enjoys the support of 37% of the voters as opposed to 18% who back the PM. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz is expected to gain 22% of the votes, the poll showed.

In a survey conducted last month among registered Kadima voters, 60% claimed Olmert should not resign as of yet, 52% said they believe the PM should step down only if convicted, while 8 percent of those polled said he should remain in office regardless of the investigation's conclusions. Thirty-eight percent said the PM should quit immediately.