AT A road junction outside Jerusalem, Labour and Likud supporters were vying for the attention of passing motorists.

“To reach Likud headquarters, dial 100”, proclaimed a placard held aloft by Yaron Armoza, the local chairman of the Israeli Labour Party. The number is that of the police, the allusion to the corruption scandals that have eroded Likud’s seemingly rock-solid lead.

“Mitzna — A Leader for a New Politics” read the Labour group’s T-shirts. Mr Armoza’s small daughter shouted: “Only Mitzna”. Across the road the Likud activists waved banners declaring: “The people want Sharon.”

Such scenes are suddenly being played out across Israel. Likud’s setbacks have galvanised a Labour Party that had seemed doomed to heavy defeat in the January 28 general election. “We now have a chance and our people are waking up,” said Mr Armoza.

Ariel Sharon’s Likud Party has lost roughly a quarter of its support in a month and is now projected to win only 27 parliamentary seats to Labour’s 24, according to the latest poll in the newspaper Haaretz. Other surveys put Likud in a slightly stronger position.

The Prime Minister’s televised press conference on Thursday night — called to rebut sleaze allegations — appeared merely to have damaged him further. Judge Mishael Cheshin, head of the central elections committee, ordered the broadcast stopped after 15 minutes because it breached election campaign rules.

“His appearance was hysterical, aggressive without reason, and evasive” wrote one columnist for the mass circulation Yediot Ahronot daily newspaper yesterday. A Haaretz columnist urged Mr Sharon to resign. “From Mr Teflon he has turned into a wounded animal liable to embroil Israel in a huge conflagration.”

Lior Horev, an aide to Mr Sharon, hit back, describing the judge’s action as “hurried and ill-considered”. The elections committee will debate the judge’s actions tonight.

The allegations concern a $1.5 million loan that Mr Sharon’s family received from the Cape Town businessman Cyril Kern, an old friend of Mr Sharon’s. The Prime Minister did not report the loan to the State Comptroller as required, and police suspect he may have misled them during questioning about his financial practices in 2001. He complained of “an abominable conspiracy” by the Labour Party.

At the road junction, Likud’s youth co-ordinator, Aryeh Levy, said the campaign would return the security issues that he believes are Mr. Sharon’s strong point. “The path Mitzna will lead the country on is a very dangerous one,” he said.

Analysts say it will be hard to turn Mr Sharon’s woes into electoral gains for Mr Mitzna. They say Likud’s hawkish constituency cannot stomach Mr Mitzna’s espousal of renewed negotiations with the Palestinian leadership and possible territorial concessions — ideas he reiterated this week at a Downing Street meeting. “For Likud voters, to switch to Mitzna’s Labour would be identical to changing everything they believe in,” said the political scientist Reuven Hazan. “A Conservative voter in Britain who is totally unhappy with Iain Duncan Smith and thinks Blair is charismatic might switch. A Likud voter in Israel who is unhappy with Sharon and thinks Mitzna is charismatic won’t vote Labour.”

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