The United Right could win as many as 13 seats if it runs on a joint list with the New Right party, and is headed by newly-named New Right chief Ayelet Shaked, a new poll shows.
According to the poll, which was conducted by the Midgam agency on behalf of Channel 12 and broadcast Sunday night, if new elections were held today the Likud would narrowly defeat the center-left Blue and White party 30 seats to 29 seats. Both parties won 35 in the April 9th election.
Yisrael Beytenu, which has called for the formation of a unity government, would win nine seats if new elections were held today, compared to the five it won in April.
Shas would lose a single seat, falling from eight to seven seats, while United Torah Judaism would hold steady at eight.
The United Right Party, led by Education Minister Rafi Peretz, would win five seats – the same number it currently holds – while the New Right under Ayelet Shaked would win six seats. The New Right failed to enter the 21st Knesset.
On the left, the Labor Party would win seven seats, up a single mandate over its performance in the April election, while the far-left Meretz party would remain stable at four seats.
The newly-launched Israeli Democratic Party of former Prime Minister Ehud Barak would also win four seats.
If the predominantly Arab Joint List Party runs again, bringing together the Balad-United Arab List ticket with the Hadash-Ta’al ticket, it would win 11 seats, one more than its constituent factions currently hold.
The poll also found that if the United Right and New Right parties run together with Shaked at the helm, the joint ticket would win 13 seats. In such a scenario, the Likud would win 28 seats, instead of 30. The results for the other parties would remain unchanged.
In both scenarios, the right-wing – religious bloc would win 65 seats, while the left-wing – Arab bloc would win 55. Avidgor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu, however, has signaled it will not help Prime Minister Netanyahu form a narrow right-wing government, but will insist instead on a unity government with Blue and White, and without the haredi parties or Religious Zionist factions.