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Latest Israeli poll: Two major parties neck-and-neck with right-wing bloc holding advantage

Little has changed from previous polls as the two biggest parties are shown winning an equal number of seats.

By World Israel News Staff

The Israeli electorate appears to be in a deep freeze with virtually no changes in the numbers, according to a recent poll conducted on behalf of Israel’s Channel 12. The numbers show the right-wing bloc sightly ahead with 56 mandates to the center-left’s 54.

The two major parties, Likud and Blue and White, are tied neck-and-neck with 30 Knesset seats each.

However, Avigdor Liberman’s party Israel Beiteinu wins 10 seats.

This means Liberman will have the power to decide which bloc will have enough mandates to cross the 61-seat minimum in the 120-seat Knesset to form a government. Liberman has said he will consider throwing his support behind either bloc, leaving a big question mark as to who will form the next government.

The results for the other parties are Yemina (11 seats), the Joint List (11), two Haredi parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas (15), the Democratic Union (7), Labor-Gesher (6).

Two right-wing parties will not pass the electoral threshold of 3.75 percent, according to the poll. Zehut (2.3%) led by Moshe Feiglin and Otzma Yehudit (1.9%) led by Itamar Ben-Gvir. This is bad news for the right-wing bloc as it means they will burn 4.2 percent of right-wing votes – equivalent to four Knesset seats.

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In response to the question who was more suitable to be prime minister, the Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu beat Benny Gantz of Blue and White (42%-to-29%). This is a slight increase for Netanyahu over the last poll and may be related to the “mole” scandal that rocked Blue and White last week (Gantz had hired a private detective to find out who was leaking party secrets).

Israel Hayom reports on Sunday that the biggest decider of the elections may be not be one or another issue, but the percentage of voters who come to the polls. According to its own poll, only 61 percent of Israeli voters are certain they’re going to vote.

The paper notes this is a slight increase over a similar poll taken before the last elections in April, which showed only 57 percent were certain they would vote. The turnout ended up being much higher – 68.41 percent.