A poll published Tuesday morning by 103FM, conducted by Panels Politics and Menachem Lazar, shows a further move to the right of the Israeli voters, except this time both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and its most prominent competitor, Naftali Bennett’s Yamina, each gaining one seat compared to the previous poll offered by the same service. Likud now stands at 29 seats (still down from its current 36), while Yamina is up to 22 seats (way up from its current 5 seats).
This may be the best time to mention that the Haredi parties are no longer enamoured with Netanyahu, whom they supported loyally for three years, and may be shopping for a new non-Haredi PM, namely Bennett. On Monday, United Torah Judaism Chassidic leader, former Health Minister and Minister of Housing and Construction Minister Yaakov Litzman, said Bennett was “the alternative to Netanyahu.”
The rightwing bloc receives 66 seats altogether, with Shas winning 8 seats (it has 9 in the real Knesset) and UTJ 7 (same as now). Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu gets 8 seats (compared with its current 7), so in case he decides to return to the fold, a purely rightwing coalition government could boast a formidable 74 seats.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid-Telam gets two more seats than in the previous poll, going up to 19 seats, likely at the expense of Blue&White (Lapid currently commands 17 seats).
Gantz’s Blue&White gets only 9 seats in this poll (it has 14 in the real Knesset).
The Joint Arab List continues to fail to excite its followers, and this morning’s poll continues to give it only 12 seats (compared to its current 15).
Meretz led by Nitzan Horowitz maintains their six seats from the week before – while their real power in the Knesset is only 3 seats, after having been robbed and betrayed by its so-called partner Labor.