Geller to use his powers to win votes

He can bend a spoon as well as anyone in the world; but can Uri Geller wrap the voters around his little finger?

He thinks he can, and he wants to run for office in the Israeli Knesset. Geller, born in Israel but now living in Britain, said he was considering moving back to his homeland before Israel's next election in the year 2000.

"There's no doubt in my mind that I will have a very large voting power. Maybe it will be a huge landslide," he said yesterday.

Geller said Middle East violence and failed peace efforts had prompted him to contact associates in Israel to verify his election prospects. "If with my connections, which believe me I have, I'll be able to reach some leaders in Iran and Syria, I'll be able to advance peace very quickly." he said, describing his connections as both political and spiritual.

Geller declined to discuss his political orientation but said he did not support the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, whose building of settlements in the occupied West Bank has crippled the peace process.

"I'm definitely not for the current government. I don't have animosity or hatred for anyone but I just don't think things are happening the right way," he said.