Israeli prime ministerial candidate Ehud Barak called on his Center Party rival, Yitzhak Mordechai, to withdraw from the race and support him. Barak has been trying to consolidate political support after some weekend opinion polls showed him running in a virtual dead heat with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the May 17 vote, but beating the premier by 8 percentage points if a runoff election is held June 1. Meanwhile, Mordechai told a news conference Sunday that he intends to stay in the race.
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