Israel's Likud party chief Benjamin Netanyahu cast his vote Tuesday in the ongoing general election that mainly pits him and Kadima party chairwoman Tzipi Livni for the next premiership.

"The people want a change and they will choose it today. Those who want to embark on a new path would rally with the Likud and with me," said the former prime minister at a polling station near his home in downtown Jerusalem.

Recent polls indicated a neck-and-neck race between the two front-running parties, with the center-right Likud leading the centrist Kadima by only two or three seats. Both Netanyahu and Livni have expressed optimism on their victories.

Earlier in the morning, Livni voted in Tel Aviv. Ehud Barak and Avigdor Lieberman, heads of the Labor Party and the Israel Beiteinu party, which were shown trailing behind, have also cast their ballots.

Other 29 parties are also competing for the 120 parliamentary seats, and some 5.3 million Israelis are eligible to vote. The voter turnout is expected to be low though the parties' leaders have urged the public to participate.

The leader of the biggest party by parliamentary seats is best positioned to become Israel's next prime minister. Yet in light of Israel's fragmentary political realm, no single party is likely to secure a majority in the parliament, and thus any would-be prime minister would have to cobble together a ruling coalition through inter-partisan bargaining.

Both of the front-runners have said they would form a national unity government as wide as possible, but also hinted that they would not coexist in a ruling coalition, according to local daily The Jerusalem Post.

Livni failed in September to form a cabinet to replace the caretaker one led by outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who resigned amid a corruption scandal, bringing forth the election one year ahead of its original schedule.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2009)