Israeli exit polls project Olmert election victory

JERUSALEM, Mar 28 (Reuters) Exit polls projected interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party would win the most parliamentary seats in an Israeli election today seen as a referendum on the future of the occupied West Bank.

The surveys, issued by Israeli media after voting ended, gave centrist Kadima 29-32 seats in the 120-member legislature, putting it in a good position to form a coalition government, with 20-22 seats going to centre-left Labour and 12 to the right-wing Likud.

The far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party was projected by two exit polls to get 14 seats, besting Likud.

Olmert ran on a platform of possible unilateral moves to set Israel's permanent borders by 2010 through completion of a barrier in the West Bank and removal of isolated Jewish settlements, while strengthening enclaves he has vowed to keep.

Near-final results should be available early tomorrow.

Palestinians, who held their own election in January in which the Islamic militant group Hamas scored a surprise win, say such go-it-alone steps would deny them the viable state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Opinion polls in the run-up to today's vote consistently put Kadima far ahead of Labour and Likud, but as in every other general election in Israel's history, short of a parliamentary majority and in need of partners to form a governing coalition.

Reuters PDS RN0147