Polls Indicate Netanyahu Will Score in New Elections

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s call to disband the government and call for new elections may serve him well, if two public opinion polls published Thursday pan out.

A poll commissioned and published by Maariv newspaper shows the prime minister’s Likud party would increase its seats from 27 to 29, with Labor taking 17 and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid taking 17.

A Haaretz poll shows that a coalition led by Likud and joined by religious and nationalist parties would also increase two seats, from 66 to 68.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s Independence party is not expected to attract enough voters to yield any seats.