Ehud Barak’s lead over Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be widening. A poll published Friday by the daily Ma’ariv gave the Israeli Labor Party leader a 13-point lead over the Likud prime minister. The Gallup poll puts Barak within a few thousand votes of an outright victory in Monday’s election if Azmi Bishara, an Israeli Arab running in the five-way race for prime minister, withdraws. The poll showed Barak winning 48.5 percent of the vote, Netanyahu winning 35.5 percent, 4.6 percent for Center Party candidate Yitzhak Mordechai, 2.5 percent for Bishara, 2.1 percent for nationalist Benny Begin and 6.8 percent undecided.
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