[Abcdxxxx]

Well. I'm not completely certain yet, but... I can try to sum it up...

Israel's Left ( that once hated him) have been hinting towards rumors of Sharon leaving Likud to start his own party (The Forward party), for a while now. It will supposedly be a "centrist" party with someone like Peres on board. There is also a move to view Israel's domestic politics as a Jewish vs. Israeli issue. Meaning, marginalizing the religious parties, the socialist aspects of the country, and adopting a traditional constitution, and some other things they think will make them more Democratic. Most Centrists politicians want to outlaw religious parties and other measures which border on anti-Judiaism. Which um... isn't very Democratic. Somehow they want to keep a Jewish identity through all that. Many Israelis are saying this election will be decided on domestic politics and none security issues, for a change. Centrist parties are trendy there, but they've never worked in the past. The largest of the centrist unity parties was built off the Peace Now platform (though they will never admit this) dates back to the 70's. So in short, there is a movement to change the entire Government system, and electoral process out there.

We know Sharon had a no confidence vote from his own party after the Gaza retreat (but then they voted to back him anyway, which was odd). He's also facing a controversy sparked by his critics on the left involving his campaign fundraising, and there are hints of some possible blackmailing. Who knows., maybe he's just trying to stay afloat. What is clear, is he campaigned to keep Gaza intact, and used a lot of religious rhetoric to do it. So he lied and breached the Likkud platform. He was never considered a hardliner in Israel, and so far Gaza was a botch job, taking progressive functional communities and leaving them in tents without a plan for their futures.

I'm not sure if this is what you were asking. A lot of it's still speculation.