Netanyahu to seek two more terms

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JERUSALEM, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has announced his intention to seek a fourth term just two days before Israelis go to the polls to elect the 19th Knesset.

"I intend to be here for many more years," Netanyahu said in an interview on Israel's Channel 10 Saturday night. Netanyahu leads the Likud-Beitenu party.

Netanyahu served as prime minister from June 1996 to 1999 and was re-elected in 2009.

He is expected to continue as prime minister following Tuesday's election, which is likely to see a significant strengthening of the pro-settler faction within the Israeli government, the British daily The Guardian said.

Soldiers in the Israeli army began casting their votes Saturday night. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers will vote at army bases in Israel with some 3,000 soldiers manning 760 polling stations, some of them portable, Ynetnews.com said.

A total of 34 parties will vie for seats in the Tuesday election.

More opinion polls have been published for these elections than any other, Haaretz said, adding some 600 polls were published between Oct.18 and Jan.18.