Israel heads to polls with Netanyahu's fate on knife-edge

On the eve of Israel’s general election, candidates today scrambled to make a last-ditch effort to woo voters in a poll that remains on a knife-edge with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party trailing in opinion polls. Netanyahu, who is seeking a record fourth term, has been harping upon his ability to keep the Jewish state safe from outward dangers, mainly the Iranian nuclear threat but is still trailing in opinion polls with the average citizen facing issues of rising costs of basic necessities.

Netanyahu, who is nicknamed Bibi, came to power for the first time in 1996 and held the premiership until his crushing defeat in the 1999 election. He achieved a political comeback in 2009 and has been the premier ever since. The Israeli Premier has been constantly at loggerheads with President Barack Obama and his recent efforts to undermine the US leader by addressing the Congress without coordinating with the White House has widened the rift.

His rival, 54-year-old Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog, has been gaining in the opinion polls on a campaign that promises to repair ties with the Palestinians and the international community and also deal with middle class issues such as price rise. Election will be held tomorrow for 120 seats of the 20th Israeli Knesset. In the current Parliament Netanyahu’s lukid Party has 18 seats.