in the lead up to

「～に至るまでの間に、〜に向けて」。

The Ageの記事、'Gillard readies for poll as new boatload arrives' by JOSH GORDONから。

'JULIA Gillard last night was preparing to clear the decks before announcing an election date, with plans to reveal new measures to harden Labor’s border protection policies later this week.

With Ms Gillard nominating tackling the asylum seeker issue as her next priority in the lead up to the poll, another new boatload of asylum seekers reached Christmas Island last night. Locals reported the boat sailed into their harbour with no sign of any naval interception'.