Poll shows Livni and Netanyahu tie in Israel election

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, favourite to replace Ehud Olmert as Kadima party chief, would tie with rightist Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu should snap elections be called, a poll showed on Thursday. With Livni at the helm, centrist Kadima and Netanyahu's Likud would each garner 28 seats in Israel's 120-strong parliament, while Defence Minister Ehud Barak's Labour Party would get 12, a poll published in the Haaretz daily showed. Likud would beat Kadima by 30 seats to 22, and Labour would win 13 seats, if the ruling party were led by Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, Livni's closest rival in the race to replace scandal-hit Olmert in a September 17 leadership contest. Olmert threw Israel into political turmoil that could hamstring Middle East peacemaking by announcing last month that he would step... [read full story]