Israel readies for third election in less than a year

OCCUPIED AL-QUDS: Israel is bracing for an unprecedented third election in under a year, with voters eyeing an end to the deadlock but polls indicating another tight race despite criminal charges against the prime minister.

Two previous votes in April and September last year failed to produce a clear winner between right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main challenger Benny Gantz, who heads the centrist Blue and White party.

Ballot-weary Israelis have shown limited enthusiasm ahead of the March 2 election, with some grudgingly accepting the possibility of a fourth run before the year ends.

But there have been significant developments since Israelis last went to the polls. Netanyahu, Israel´s longest serving premier, has become the first to be indicted while in office.

Charges unveiled in November and filed in court last month accuse him of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The prime minister denies wrongdoing in the case that involves multiple alleged offences.

The most serious allegation is that Netanyahu offered mogul Shaul Elovitch regulatory changes worth millions of dollars to his telecoms giant Bezeq in exchange for positive coverage on Elovitch´s Walla! news website.

The trial starts on March 17. Since the last election, US President Donald Trump has unveiled his controversial plan to end the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump´s terms have been rejected by the Palestinians as a capitulation to Israeli objectives. Netanyahu, who was standing next to Trump at the White House as the initiative was announced last month, cheered it as an "historic" opportunity for the Jewish state.

He has also portrayed the deal as a product of his personal bond with Trump that can only be implemented if he is re-elected prime minister. But neither the criminal indictments, nor the pro-Israel Trump initiative have moved the polls.

Recent surveys indicate that Netanyahu´s Likud party and Blue and White will both fall short of the 61 seats required for a majority in parliament, the Knesset. Status quo in the polls could be good news for the prime minister, said Gideon Rahat, a political science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

"He is not attracting more voters, but he is not losing voters either," despite the indictments, Rahat told AFP. Gantz, a former military chief, has sought to convince Israelis that the prime minister´s legal woes will distract him from governing.

"Netanyahu is going to court... he won´t be able to look after the needs of Israeli citizens," he said this week. Meanwhile, Israeli prosecutors are probing whether a cyber-security firm formerly chaired by Gantz, Fifth Dimension, inappropriately received public funds.