If Sharon leaves the Likud, he would form a moderate, centrist party that would appeal to middle-of-the-road voters. A new poll show such a party running neck-in-neck with the dovish Labor party, under its new leader Amir Peretz. Peretz is a charismatic trade union leader, who all of a sudden is challenging the elder statesman--Sharon. A “Yediot Ahronot” newspaper poll predicted that each would win 28 seats in the 120-member Knesset. The Likud, which would be led by hawkish former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would win 18 seats.