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Poll: Blue and White leads Likud by two Knesset seats

The number of seats Likud would obtain changes dramatically if Netanyahu’s party rival Gideon Sa’ar wins the upcoming Likud primaries.

By World Israel News Staff

A new poll published by Channel 12 news on Sunday showed that Israel’s third election will do very little to change the country’s political landscape.

According to the poll, if elections were held today, Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party would win two more Knesset seats (35) than it did last election and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party would win one more (33).

Blue and White won 33 seats and Likud picked up 32 in Israel’s second election in a row in September.

Ahead of Israel’s third election set for March 2, the poll predicts that Israel Beiteinu would lose one seat from the eight it won in the last election, the Sephardic Ultra-Orthodox Shas party would drop from nine to eight seats, United Torah Judaism would match its current seven seats and the New Right would net five seats.

The left-wing parties of Labor-Gesher would lose one seat from the six it won in the last election, and the Democratic Camp would drop from five to four seats. The Arab Joint List, which refuses to join any coalition, would drop one seat from the 13 it received in the last election.

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As with the last two elections, it’s unlikely that either Gantz or Netanyahu will be able to form a ruling government without Liberman’s Israel Beiteinu party.

The number of seats Likud would obtain changes dramatically if Netanyahu’s party rival Gideon Sa’ar wins the upcoming Likud primaries, according to the poll. If that does happen, then Likud is predicted to win 26 seats.

The Likud party primary for the chairmanship is due to take place on December 26.

Sa’ar insists that he can succeed where Netanyahu failed twice to form a ruling government.