Poll predicts high turnout of Israeli Arabs in election

Sarah Ozacky-Lazar, the institute's director, said that according to the findings, the voter turnout in the prime ministerial race would be somewhat less, around 81 percent.

This would fall to 74 percent in the event of a run-off between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Labor leader Ehud Barak. The turnout would drop to around 65 percent if the second round was between Netanyahu and the Center Party's Yitzhak Mordechai.

Ozacky-Lazar said that only 62 percent had expressed determination to definitely vote in the event of a second round.

"This is an important statistic, particularly regarding the prime ministerial candidates from the left-center, because neither of them could hope to win against Netanyahu without a massive Arab vote," she said.

According to the findings of the poll for the first round, Barak would receive 56.6 percent, Arab candidate Azmi Bishara 24.3 percent, Mordechai 12.6 percent and Netanyahu 6.5 percent.

Ozacky-Lazar said that 75 percent of those polled felt that the Netanyahu government has brought about a change for the worse in the general condition and status of Israeli Arabs, and a similar number said it is important to them to see Netanyahu ousted.

Their criticism of the government related primarily to domestic concerns, not the peace process.

Ozacky-Lazar said the indications of a lower voter turnout in the event of a second round are primarily because Israeli Arabs would have less motivation to go to the polls after having already cast their votes for the respective Knesset parties.