Report: Bennett Making Plans for Election Campaign

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – Shortly after the coalition weathered no-confidence motions in the Knesset on Monday, it was reported that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has been making plans for elections, as he expects the government to fall in the coming weeks.

According to Haaretz, Bennett met with senior advisors a week and half ago to begin drawing up a campaign strategy, despite a denial to Channel 12, saying it was a routine meeting.

But the paper cited sources who said that the purpose of the meeting was to secure the services of Aron Shaviv to run the campaign. Shaviv, a veteran political strategist, has worked in the past for former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Bennett reportedly expressed a preference for dissolving the Knesset, with help from the coalition’s Ra’am party, which would enable Bennett to serve as interim prime minister until a new government is elected.

According to the coalition agreement, if the Bennett bloc, which includes Yamina and New Hope, is responsible for toppling the government, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would be appointed interim prime minister.

But if other parties in the coalition – center-left parties or Ra’am – move to dissolve the Knesset, Bennett would stay in power, at least during the months of the election campaign and post-election coalition-forming.

Bennett has not yet respond to the report, Haaretz said.

Meanwhile, a Channel 13 poll released Monday night predicted that if elections were held now, the Likud-led right-religious bloc would have the upper hand, but still just short of a majority to form a government.

It found that Likud would win 36 seats; Yesh Atid 18; Religious Zionism 9; Yamina 8; Joint List 8; Blue and White 7; Shas 7; United Torah Judaism 7; Labor 6; Yisrael Beytenu 5; Meretz 5; New Hope 4; Ra’am would not pass the electoral threshold.

That would give the pro-Netanyahu opposition 59 seats, while parties in the current coalition would have 53.

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