Tel Aviv - The centrist Kadima party has narrowed its gap with the hardline Likud of former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, but Netanyahu still leads amid a clear pull to the right in Israeli politics, according to opinion polls published in Israel's leading newspapers, just days before Tuesday's elections.

The Likud has had a lead of some 5 mandates against Kadima of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni over the past weeks, but according to the polls published Friday, Livni has narrowed her gap behind Netanyahu to around two or three mandates.

According to the four separate polls published in Yediot Ahronot, Ma'ariv, Ha'aretz and the Jerusalem Post, the opposition Likud can count on 25 to 27 mandates in the
120-seat Knesset, against 23 to 25 mandates for Livni's ruling Kadima.

The big winner holding the key to any new coalition is likely Avigdor Lieberman, whose ultra-nationalist Israel Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) - currently the fifth-largest party - could become the third-largest in the Israeli parliament.

According to Friday's polls - the last to be published ahead of Tuesday's elections - Lieberman's party can expect to rise from 11 mandates in the outgoing Knesset, to as many as 18 or 19.

That would place him ahead even of the Labour Party of Defence Minister Ehud Barak, which for the first time ever could drop to fourth place with around 14-17 mandates. Labour has for decades been either the ruling or second-largest party in the Knesset.

The bloc of right-wing parties - a minority in the outgoing parliament - is expected to obtain a clear majority with around 65 to 67 seats, against 53 to 55 for the left-to-centre bloc headed by Kadima. That means that even if Livni manages to close her gap with Netanyahu and scores a shock victory, she could expect serious difficulties in forming a "pro-peace" coalition.

The dailies commissioned leading Israeli polling institutes, which each questioned some 1,000 adult Israelis. (dpa)