
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party would win if new elections were held today, a new poll shows, with the right-wing bloc gaining seats in comparison to last month’s election.
According to the poll, which was conducted by Panels Politics and published Friday morning by Maariv, the Likud would win 37 seats, a gain of two mandates, while the center-left Blue and White party would fall by two seats, from 35 to 33 mandates.
The poll was conducted after the Likud voted to merge with the smaller Kulanu faction, giving the party the fifth, 15th, 29th, and 35th slots on its Knesset slate.
Naftali Bennett’s New Right party would win five seats if Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked runs with the party and does not leave it for the Likud. The party narrowly failed to enter the 21st Knesset, missing the threshold by some 1,400 votes.
The United Right – a joint list of the Jewish Home, National Union, and Otzma Yehudit factions – would win six seats, a gain of one mandate.
Former Defense Minister Avidgor Liberman’s secular right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party received nine seats in the poll, a four-mandate increase over its present five seats.
The haredi factions dropped a total of one seat, from 16 to 15 mandates, with United Torah Judaism remaining steady at eight seats, and Shas falling from eight to seven.
The libertarian-leaning Zehut party, which received 2.7% in last month’s election, again fails to cross the 3.25% electoral threshold, receiving just 1.4% of the vote.
On the left, the Meretz party would gain two mandates, rising to six seats, while the Labor party would for the first time in Israeli history be left out of the Knesset, receiving just 1.9% of the vote.
The two Arab lists would receive a total of nine mandates, down from ten, with Hadash-Ta’al dropping from six to five seats, and the United Arab List-Balad alliance holding steady at four seats.
The right-wing – religious bloc as a whole would win 72 seats, an increase of seven seats from the current 65, while the left-wing – Arab bloc would fall from 55 mandates to 48.
In this scenario, Netanyahu would be able to form a government without Yisrael Beytenu, with 63 seats going to right-wing and haredi parties if Yisrael Beytenu is not included.
The Panels Politics poll also asked respondents how they would vote if Ayelet Shaked left the New Right for the Likud, and New Right chief Naftali Bennett ran on the United Right ticket.
Here the poll found the Likud surging to 41 seats – the most the party has won since 1984.
If Shaked runs with the Likud, the Blue and White party would fall one seat, to 34 mandates, rather than lose two.
Labor would still fail to clear the electoral threshold, with Meretz still winning six seats, and the Arab factions a total of nine.
UTJ would win eight seats, and Shas seven, while Yisrael Beytenu would decline slightly in comparison to the other scenario, winning eight mandates as opposed to nine.
The United Right – New Right alliance would win seven seats, while Zehut would still fail to cross the threshold.
The right-wing – religious bloc would win 71 seats in this scenario, compared to 49 for the left-wing – Arab bloc.