Investigative reporter Yoav Yitzchak writes today that Labor Party officials are in a "heavy state of anxiety" after receiving the results of a secret survey showing that they are on their way to an overwhelming defeat in the upcoming election.
The survey shows that Labor, currently the largest party, will receive only 19 Knesset seats, while the anti-religious Shinui party, with only 6 seats, will almost triple its strength and climb to 17 MKs. The alarming results explain recent demands by Labor leaders for a total revamping of the party's campaign team. The poll also shows the Likud receiving 36 mandates, Shas and Meretz - 7 each, the NRP only 4, Am Echad climbing to 3, and the National Union retaining its 7.
Shas: Buoyed by yesterday's letter of support by Aryeh Deri, Shas will be holding a large rally tonight in Yad Eliyahu Stadium in Tel Aviv. Interior Minister Eli Yeshai, leader of the Shas party told Arutz-7 today that Deri, "who saw the danger facing Torah [as expressed in low support for Shas], went against his advisors in writing a letter of support for Shas. But no, he will not be able to show up at the rally tonight; that would already be too close to a violation of the ban on political activity during his period of parole." Deri was not considered to be on good terms with official Shas leadership following Yeshai's installment as party leader and the removal of Deri supporters from the party's Knesset list.
National Union members have asked Election Committee Chairman Hon. Michael Cheshin to demand that MKs Tommy Lapid (Shinui) and Labor's Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Avraham Burg and Ophir Pines stop using their media interviews as springboards by which to present party propaganda, in violation of campaign laws governing media propaganda. Cheshin informed the four that they have three days in which to respond to the charges.
The survey shows that Labor, currently the largest party, will receive only 19 Knesset seats, while the anti-religious Shinui party, with only 6 seats, will almost triple its strength and climb to 17 MKs. The alarming results explain recent demands by Labor leaders for a total revamping of the party's campaign team. The poll also shows the Likud receiving 36 mandates, Shas and Meretz - 7 each, the NRP only 4, Am Echad climbing to 3, and the National Union retaining its 7.
Shas: Buoyed by yesterday's letter of support by Aryeh Deri, Shas will be holding a large rally tonight in Yad Eliyahu Stadium in Tel Aviv. Interior Minister Eli Yeshai, leader of the Shas party told Arutz-7 today that Deri, "who saw the danger facing Torah [as expressed in low support for Shas], went against his advisors in writing a letter of support for Shas. But no, he will not be able to show up at the rally tonight; that would already be too close to a violation of the ban on political activity during his period of parole." Deri was not considered to be on good terms with official Shas leadership following Yeshai's installment as party leader and the removal of Deri supporters from the party's Knesset list.
National Union members have asked Election Committee Chairman Hon. Michael Cheshin to demand that MKs Tommy Lapid (Shinui) and Labor's Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Avraham Burg and Ophir Pines stop using their media interviews as springboards by which to present party propaganda, in violation of campaign laws governing media propaganda. Cheshin informed the four that they have three days in which to respond to the charges.