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CNN Live At Daybreak

Israel Preparing for Election Day

Aired January 27, 2003 - 06:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK, let's talk about Israel now. In Israel, voters are just a day away now from going to the polls. They'll elect a new parliament, although Ariel Sharon's Likud Party is still expected to remain in the majority.
Kelly Wallace joins us live from Tel Aviv with more on the voting ahead -- good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Carol.

Well Israelis are definitely used to going to the polls. This will be the third election in Israel in less than four years. And as you said, right now the current polls show the Likud Party, led by the current Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, with a solid lead. And so the expectation is the prime minister will hold on to his job.

But then the question becomes, will he be able to put together a stable coalition government? He will need the support of 61 members in the 120 member Israeli Parliament. And one big factor affecting Mr. Sharon's ability to put together that government, well, it has to do with Amram Mitzna who is the head of the Labor Party. And Mr. Mitzna is saying that under his watch the Labor Party will not join any Sharon-led coalition government. So Mr. Sharon will have to reach out to other parties.

Now another big story here is really Mr. Mitzna's failure or inability to break through with the Israeli public. Many Israelis say they support his ideas, eventually, such as negotiations with the Palestinians and unilateral withdrawal and separation if there is no negotiated settlement. But most Israelis say they simply can't support those ideas right now.

Now Israeli soldiers, for their part, have already started casting their ballots, going to the polls beginning Sunday. The rest of the Israeli public, though, will head to the polls on Tuesday.

And really another big story of this election, just how unexcited voters are about their options. We talked to a lot of voters over the past few days. We have found many people very depressed with their options. Some people saying they're so frustrated they're not going to go to the polls. Many others saying they're so disillusioned with the two major parties, Labor and Likud, that they're going to go ahead and do a protest vote, Carol, and vote for some of these other smaller parties -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sounds familiar. I guess politics is the same over much of the world sometimes. Kelly Wallace reporting live from Tel Aviv for us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 27, 2003 - 06:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: OK, let's talk about Israel now. In Israel, voters are just a day away now from going to the polls. They'll elect a new parliament, although Ariel Sharon's Likud Party is still expected to remain in the majority.
Kelly Wallace joins us live from Tel Aviv with more on the voting ahead -- good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again, Carol.

Well Israelis are definitely used to going to the polls. This will be the third election in Israel in less than four years. And as you said, right now the current polls show the Likud Party, led by the current Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, with a solid lead. And so the expectation is the prime minister will hold on to his job.

But then the question becomes, will he be able to put together a stable coalition government? He will need the support of 61 members in the 120 member Israeli Parliament. And one big factor affecting Mr. Sharon's ability to put together that government, well, it has to do with Amram Mitzna who is the head of the Labor Party. And Mr. Mitzna is saying that under his watch the Labor Party will not join any Sharon-led coalition government. So Mr. Sharon will have to reach out to other parties.

Now another big story here is really Mr. Mitzna's failure or inability to break through with the Israeli public. Many Israelis say they support his ideas, eventually, such as negotiations with the Palestinians and unilateral withdrawal and separation if there is no negotiated settlement. But most Israelis say they simply can't support those ideas right now.

Now Israeli soldiers, for their part, have already started casting their ballots, going to the polls beginning Sunday. The rest of the Israeli public, though, will head to the polls on Tuesday.

And really another big story of this election, just how unexcited voters are about their options. We talked to a lot of voters over the past few days. We have found many people very depressed with their options. Some people saying they're so frustrated they're not going to go to the polls. Many others saying they're so disillusioned with the two major parties, Labor and Likud, that they're going to go ahead and do a protest vote, Carol, and vote for some of these other smaller parties -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sounds familiar. I guess politics is the same over much of the world sometimes. Kelly Wallace reporting live from Tel Aviv for us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com