Poll Shows Netanyahu-Led Bloc Edging Toward Majority

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – Prospects for a return to power by former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu appeared promising on Tuesday night, as a Kan news poll said that if elections were held now, his right-religious bloc would get 60 Knesset seats, tantalizingly close to a ruling majority in the 120-seat parliament.

The poll was published just a day after the Bennett-Lapid coalition suffered a stinging setback, as it failed to pass an urgent measure to maintain Israeli legal protections for residents of Yehuda and Shomron. The bill was defeated by a vote of 58 to 52, with two coalition MKs voting against it while others were absent.

In comparison to Netanyahu’s 60 MKs, the Kan poll predicted only 54 for the current coalition parties. The 60-seat figure was one better than in a Jerusalem Post poll that gave the bloc 59 a week ago.

The Likud party would win 35 seats and Yesh Atid would remain the No. 2 party with  20 seats.

Religious Zionist continued to show strongly, with 10 seats, Blue and White and Shas each with 8 seats, Labor and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) each with 7 seats.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party would have 6 seats, as would the Joint List. Yisrael Beytenu would get 5, while Ra’am and Meretz would each pass closely over the electoral threshold with 4 each.

Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope Party would not pass the electoral threshold and would not enter the next Knesset, according to the poll.