Discontent simmers among Russian immigrants

With four days left until Israel goes to the polls, one of the country's most important communities is turning against the two main parties.

Election fever has failed to take hold of the suburbs of Ashdod, a city on the southern coast. Shops there depend on nostalgia, selling wine from the Caucasus, large wafers in the shape of hearts and, above all, vodka. They cater to one of Israel's largest, and, during elections, most significant communities: Russian Jews and immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

This group numbers more than a million – more than 16 per cent of the population – and more are arriving every year.

While longer-established communities have generally settled into fixed voting patterns, the Russians, who arrived in the past 15 years or so, are a mass of floating voters. They have tended to be swing voters, turning against the incumbent government and voting for the alternative. And it is clear there is discontent simmering in Ashdod, a more popular Israeli city for Russian immigrants. "We simple people are always suppressed," said one man, who declined to give his name. "Likud is the same as Labour. I don't like either of them. They're all using the Russians."

Mikhail Itin, who came from Moscow 11 years ago, said: "My feeling is to choose the smallest evil. You know, in a factory, if you do your job badly, you get fired. In the Knesset [Israel's parliament], if you do your job badly, you get promoted."

Mr Itin came here in search of a better life, as many Russian Jews did. Less typically, it was not poverty he was trying to escape. He was as well off in Moscow as here, he says. Instead, he liked the idea of living in a Jewish country where "educated and smart people were in control". Mr Itin says he will vote for Shinui, the party running third in the polls, which is vowing to strip away the disproportionate share of influence wielded by ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel.

The mood of disappointment is clearly helping Shinui, which is seen as an alternative to the mainstream parties. The images of Ariel Sharon's Likud and the main opposition Labour party are tarnished in Ashdod because they served in a coalition "national unity" government until November.

There is also frustration over the conflict with the Palestinians and finding extremist voices among the modern high-rise blocks is not hard.

"The Palestinians should be thrown out, with [Yasser] Arafat," said Yuri Pinchasov, a Bokhariot Jew who immigrated from Uzbekistan, fleeing anti-Semitism. "Arafat is a fascist. I support 'transfer'." "Transfer" is a euphemism for the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from the West Bank, a policy openly advocated by some on the far right.

Mr Pinchasov's hero is Avigdor Lieberman, a far-right leader originally from the former Soviet republic of Moldova. While Mr Lieberman does not advocate transfer, he presides over an alliance of three parties, one of which does.

Voting among the Russians is sometimes driven by distinct concerns. For Nina Snitkov-skaya, one of the most important factors is whether her daughter will be able to marry. Ms Snitkovskaya is not Jewish. Depending on how Jewishness is defined, between a quarter and a third of Israeli Russians are not Jewish. Many are the spouses of Jews who immigrated.

Under Israeli law, only Jewish religious marriages are recognised. Jewishness is considered to be passed down the maternal line, which means Ms Snitkovskaya's daughter is not seen as Jewish. Many Russians in a similar situation go to Cyprus to get married. Others marry under Paraguayan law without ever leaving Israel.

In 2001, Ms Snitkovskaya voted for Ehud Barak, not because of the peace process with the Palestinians but because he was promising to legalise civil marriages. This time around, she is considering voting for Shinui, which is making the same promise.