With Israeli leaders still unable to form a coalition government and the country inching closer to an unprecedented fifth general election in just over two years, a new poll suggests new elections may result in yet another electoral stalemate.
According to the poll, which was produced by Project Midgam and published Sunday night by Channel 13, if new elections were held today, neither the Netanyahu bloc nor the change bloc would gain significantly.
The Likud is projected to remain the largest party in the Knesset with 29 seats, down from 30 seats currently but up one from the previous Project Midgam poll, carried out earlier this month.
Yesh Atid, led by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, gained one seat in the poll, rising from 21 to 22 seats, up from the 17 mandates it won in the last election.
Among the haredi factions, Shas fell from its current nine seats to seven – the same number it received in the previous poll – while United Torah Judaism fell from seven seats to six.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party rose from eight seats to 11, while Yisrael Beytenu fell from seven seats in the previous election to five seats – the same number it received in the previous poll.
Yamina is projected to win eight seats, up from the last election but down from the 11 seats it received in the last poll. The Religious Zionist Party alliance with Otzma Yehudit and Noam, which won six seats in March, rose to eight seats in the latest poll.
Labor held steady at seven seats in the poll, while Meretz fell to four seats, down from six in the last election and five in the previous poll.
Among the two Arab factions, the Joint Arab List rose from six seats to eight mandates, while the United Arab List failed to cross the threshold in the new poll.
The two right-of-center parties opposed to Prime Minister Netanyahu both fell to five seats apiece.
The right-wing bloc received a total of 58 seats – including Yamina, which has refused to commit to backing Netanyahu for the premiership.
The left-wing – Arab bloc is projected to win 52 seats, with 10 seats going to center-right parties opposed to Netanyahu.
The poll also found that Yair Lapid has closed to within just four points of Prime Minister Netanyahu in a head-to-head matchup, with 37% of respondents favoring the Opposition Leader for premier, compared to 41% who prefer the incumbent.
When asked whether they favor new elections or a new government formed by Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, respondents were nearly evenly divided, with 45% preferring snap elections and 42% backing a unity government of Lapid and Bennett.
