The right-wing – religious bloc has gained one seat as a result of the departure of the Balad movement from the Joint Arab List, a new poll released Sunday finds.
According to the poll, which was conducted by Direct Polls and published by Channel 14 Sunday night, if new elections were held today, the Likud and its allies – including Shas, United Torah Judaism, and the Religious Zionist Party – would win a total of 62 seats, up from 61 seats in last week’s Direct Polls survey.
The left-wing – Arab bloc declined by one seat, from 53 seats in last week’s poll to 52 seats, while the center-right Yisrael Beytenu held steady at six seats.
Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud remains the largest party in the Knesset with 34 seats, while Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid is in a distant second with 22 seats – identical results for both parties as compared to last week’s poll.
The Religious Zionist Party alliance with Otzma Yehudit and Noam gained one seat, rising to 12 mandates, while Shas and United Torah Judaism held steady at nine and seven seats respectively.
The Jewish Home party, which merged with Yamina last week, remains below the minimum threshold with 2.2% of the vote, shy of the 3.25% needed to enter the Knesset.
On the Left, the Labor party is projected to win five seats, the same as in last week’s poll, while Meretz declined from five seats to four.
The centrist National Unity party – a merger of the center-right New Hope and the center-left Blue and White party – gained one seat, rising to 13 seats.
In the previous Direct Polls survey, the Joint Arab List – including Balad – received five seats. Now, following the split, the Hadash – Ta’al joint ticket received four seats, while Balad fails to cross the threshold receiving just 1.6%.
The United Arab List also received four seats in Sunday’s poll.