MIDDLE EAST:THE FIRST set of opinion polls released since Ehud Olmert announced earlier this week that he would resign showed yesterday that foreign minister Tzipi Livni was the clear front runner in the race to replace the prime minister as head of the ruling Kadima party.
Some of the polls also surprisingly showed her in a neck-and-neck race with Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a general election, after months in which Mr Netanyahu has held a comfortable lead.
Mr Olmert, meanwhile, was questioned for a fourth time yesterday by police over allegations he illicitly received hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from a Jewish American businessman and submitted duplicate travel expenses to charity organisations, all during the period before he became prime minister.
Dogged by the corruption allegations, Mr Olmert announced on Wednesday that he would resign as soon as Kadima had chosen a new leader, enabling his successor to try and set up a new governing coalition. Should they fail, a general election will be held within 90 days. Polls published in the three main dailies showed Ms Livni holding a significant and widening lead over transport minister Shaul Mofaz - both among the general public and among Kadima members - ahead of the leadership primary to be held on September 17th.
A poll in the daily Yediot Ahronoth showed Kadima members preferring Ms Livni 51-43 in a two-horse race.
Mr Mofaz is telling Kadima members that his more hawkish views - he opposes returning the Golan Heights to Syria or making concessions to the Palestinians in Jerusalem - will make it easier for him to form a coalition because he will be able to attract the more right-wing parties in the 120-seat parliament.
Ms Livni, who as foreign minister is in charge of peace talks with the Palestinians, also argues that she will be able to form a new governing coalition, but she will be pointing to Friday's poll numbers and telling Kadima members that in the event of a general election, she is their best bet.
A Yediot Ahronothpoll showed Likud under Mr Netanyahu winning 30 seats and Kadima under Ms Livni 29. A poll in the daily Haaretz had Ms Livni slightly ahead 26-25.
If Mr Mofaz headed Kadima, the party would win far fewer seats in a general election - only 17 seats compared to 33 for Mr Netanyahu's Likud, according to Yediot Ahronoth.
One poll, in the daily Ma'ariv, showed Mr Netanyahu easily beating Ms Livni in a general election, with the Likud winning 33 seats and Kadima only 20.
All the polls showed the Labour Party under defence minister Ehud Barak in third spot.
The surveys also showed a clear majority of Israelis preferring an early election over a reconstituted government under a new Kadima leader.