Poll: Kadima would win most Knesset seats

JERUSALEM, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Israel's Kadima Party would emerge the winner and the Likud Party would make big Knesset gains if elections were today, a newspaper poll indicated Monday.

The poll for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth indicated Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni's decision to seek elections rather than form an uncomfortable alliance with a religious party could pay off, with Kadima likely to retain all 29 of its current plurality of Knesset seats, Ynetnews.com reported.

The biggest winner, however, could be opposition chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud Party would win 26 Knesset seats, compared to 12 seats in the previous election, the poll indicated. The biggest loser would be the Labor Party, which would drop from 19 to 11 Knesset seats in the poll.

The religiously conservative Shas Party, meanwhile, could regret its decision to reject Livni's offers in the coalition talks, Ynetnews.com said. The Yedioth Ahronoth survey indicates, the party would drop from 12 to 11 Knesset seats, weakening its bargaining power.

The poll was conducted Sunday among 500 people, and carried a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.