Poll: New Elections Would Increase Right’s Strength

With elections a distinct possibility, election polls are coming back into vogue – and if new elections were held now, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will find it a lot easier to form a government. The current right-wing and religious bloc of parties would get 68 seats, instead of the current 65. Six of those seats would belong to Yisrael Beytenu, which, if the party continues to refuse to compromise in its stance on the draft law, would allow Netanyahu to form a government of 62 MKs.

The Likud itself would get 35 Knesset seats in new elections, the same number it has now. Blue and White would lose a seat, garnering 34. United Torah Judaism and Shas would retain their current strength, with each getting 8 seats. Hadash-Ta’al, led by Ayman Odeh and Ahmed Tibi, would garner an additional Knesset seat over its current level of 6. Labor would remain at 6 seats as well, and Meretz would get 5.

Gaining in new elections would be Yisrael Beytenu, as well as United Right List, both garnering 6 seats. The New Right, led by Naftali Bennett, would pass the electoral threshold, fetching 5 seats.

Losing out, however, would be Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu, which would not pass the electoral threshold.

However, Channel 12 reported that Kulanu would not be running in new elections; the party would be absorbed into the Likud and Netanyahu would seek places for them in the top 35 on the Likud list.

Also out of the picture would be the Balad-Ra’am party, which barely passed the threshold to enter the current Knesset – as well as Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut, which would not get seats in a new Knesset.