Israeli Jews and Arabs voting in election, analyst

(10 Feb 2009) Jerusalem 1. Exterior shot of polling station 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Hedva Almog, Jerusalem resident: "I am happy. This day will be very important for us and I hope that what I want to vote (who I vote for) will win." 3. Woman entering polling station 4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Vox pop (no name given), Jerusalem resident: "I hope things will be okay, that the people will wake up despite the winter and vote." 5. Man arriving at polling station 6. Exterior of polling station 7. Wide interior of polling station 8. Various of voters casting their ballots East Jerusalem 9. Wide shot of skyline 10. Election posters outside polling station 11. Arab Israeli voter casting her ballot 12. Cutaway of picture on wall 13. Arab Israeli voter casting her ballot Tel Aviv, Israel 14. Street scene 15. Establishing shot of Doctor Tamir Sheafer 16. SOUNDBITE (English) Doctor Tamir Sheafer, Political scientist: "The gap between the two leading parties happens to be very very narrow at the last day and actually we don't know what the result would be. We can't even predict because we didn't have polls here in the last three days." 17. Sheafer speaking on mobile phone STORYLINE Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday in pivotal general elections which will determine who will lead the country's next fragmented government, with a lurch to the right predicted. Recent polls show a tight race between the centrist Kadima and right wing Likud, with the centre-left Labor and extremist Yisrael Beitenu also expected to collect enough seats to have a potential say in future coalition building. Most of the country's 9,263 polling stations opened as scheduled at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT). Polls are open in all but the smallest communities until 10 p.m. local time (2000 GMT). Voters in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel braved pouring rain and strong winds on Tuesday morning, expected to keep numbers low. One Jerusalem resident expressed the hope that people would still turn out to vote despite the inclement winter weather. Voter turnout in the last election in 2006 was 63.2 percent, the lowest in Israel's history. For months, opinion polls had predicted a decisive Likud Party victory. But new polls released over the weekend showed the ruling Kadima Party, led by foreign minister Tzipi Livni, closing the gap. Political scientist, Doctor Tamir Sheafer, said Likud and Kadima were separated by a "very narrow" margin. Neither is expected to get more than 30 seats in the 120-seat parliament, however, meaning the winner will likely have to form a coalition with smaller parties. If the hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud Party, garners the most votes, as polls predict, the big question will be whether he tries to put together a right-wing or centrist coalition government. An alliance that relies on ultranationalists and hawkish religious parties would likely doom Mideast peace efforts and put Netanyahu on a collision course with the new US administration. A partnership with the moderate Kadima and Labor parties might push Netanyahu toward the middle, but it is unlikely he would agree to far-reaching compromises, such as uprooting Jewish settlements and crucially, ceding partial control of Jerusalem, for peace with the Palestinians. In East Jerusalem, a steady stream of Arab Israelis cast their votes on Tuesday morning. Despite campaign fever throughout Israel ahead of the polls, more than half of eligible Arab voters will not vote, according to a swath of small polls and the private accounts of Arab politicians. Arab participation in elections has consistently declined. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...