Student poll sees the future?

Will the allegations and the arrests affect the outcome of next month's elections?

The students at Blich High School don't think so. Every year a traditional straw poll is held at Blich High School in Ramat Gan. In the past, their results have been very close to the actual outcome of the real national elections.

The Likud won big with 31.5 percent of the vote. Surprisingly, Shinui came in second with 26.7 percent followed by Labor with only 17.2 percent. The National Union received 9.5 percent followed by Yisrael Acheret (A Different Israel) with 5.9 percent.

The biggest shocker of them all was Meretz receiving only 5.6 percent. The National Religious Party received a paltry 2.1 percent and the Hadash Communist Party only 1.4 percent.

Obviously the school is not a relection of the population of Israel. There aren't any new immigrants, Arabs or religious students.

The students campaign for their party and many prominent politicians visit the school and address the students. If I recall correctly the students chose the wrong Prime Minister in the past two elections. Last time around in the 1999 election Ehud Barak won the majority of votes and the previous election and in 1996 Netanyahu lost the Blich vote but won the national election. Not a very good record but apparantly in previous years the student's results have been more accurate.

I think that the straw poll is a good educational experience for the students. I just wonder if there was any illicit playground deals made before the election.

Tags: blich high school, israel, labor, likud, Meretz