With the Bennett-Lapid government facing its first major electoral challenge this week – passing the state budget ahead of the Thursday night deadline – a new poll shows that the coalition would lose its narrow majority in the Knesset if snap elections were held.
The government, with its narrow 61-59 majority, must pass its spending plan by Thursday night this week, or face automatic dissolution of the Knesset and snap elections.
If Israel does head to new elections, however, a new poll released by Galei Yisrael Wednesday morning shows that the parties which currently make up the coalition would lose a net total of four mandates, falling from 61 seats in the current Knesset to 57.
The New Hope party, which won six seats in the last election, would find itself below the 3.25% electoral threshold if new elections were held today according to the poll, which was conducted by the Smith polling agency.
The Likud, which currently leads the Opposition, would rise from 30 seats to 34 if new elections were held today, while Yesh Atid, a coalition partner, is projected to rise from 17 seats to 20.
Shas would fall from nine seats to eight, the poll found, with United Torah Judaism holding steady at seven seats.
Blue and White is projected to retain its eight seats, with Labor and the Joint Arab List each holding onto their seven seats.
Yisrael Beytenu fell by one seat in the poll, from seven to six mandates, while the Religious Zionist Party alliance with Otzma Yehudit and Noam rose by one seat, from six to seven mandates.
The United Arab List held steady at five seats, while Meretz slipped from six to five.
Yamina, which won seven seats in March, fell to six in the poll. One-and-a-half seats’ worth of voters who backed Yamina in the last election now say they will vote for the Likud, the poll found.
Broken down by bloc, the parties backing Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu received a total of 56 seats, up from 52 in the current Knesset, while left-wing and Arab parties received 52 seats, up from 48 seats in the current Knesset. Center-right parties supporting the current government received 12 seats, down from 20 in the current Knesset.
