For the first time in Israel, a political party will use Facebook extensively during an election.

As part of the primaries for the leadership of the Kadima party on Tuesday, voters will be able to check-in through Facebook at the polling station and let their Facebook friends know that they have exercised their democratic right to vote.

As part of the activity, 104 places for checking in, representing the 104 voting sites across the country, have been created on Facebook. At each polling station there will be signage posted which will invite the voters to check-in and guide them on how to do so.

Furthermore, the Kadima party has announced that it will provide regular news flashes throughout election day on the party´s Facebook page.

The Kadima race heated up last week, after former Shin Bet head MK Avi Dichter bowed out of the race and joined the camp that supports MK Shaul Mofaz – a former Chief of Staff and Minister of Defense.

The move is bad news for MK Tzipi Livni, who currently leads the party. Polls have shown that if Dichter throws his support behind Mofaz, Mofaz has a good chance of unseating Livni in the first round of voting.

In any case and no matter who wins the Kadima leadership, polls have shown that the party, which is currently the largest party in the Knesset, will lose a significant number of seats.

A poll conducted for the Knesset Channel last week found that if Mofaz defeats Livni, the center-left camp will likely diminish in the next elections and nationalist camp can be expected to grow considerably.

The poll showed Kadima losing over half of its Knesset seats in the next elections in any case. Asked how they would vote if elections were held today and if Mofaz heads Kadima, the poll´s participants yielded 6 Knesset seats for the party. If elections were held today and if Livni continues to head Kadima, the party would get 11 seats, according to the poll. (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 03/26/12)