As the deluge of polls continue, the latest findings show Likud has a slight edge over Labor, according to a TNA poll for Walla! News Friday – but the right-wing bloc overall is weakening.
According to the poll, Likud would be a front-runner in the Knesset with 24 seats, followed by Labor with a close second at 23.
Jewish Home once again wins third place with 15 seats, followed by a fifth-place tie for Yisrael Beytenu, Kulanu, and the collective Arab parties at ten seats. It is not clear if the Arab parties were asked as a joint list or separately with the seats added together. Yesh Atid, at sixth, would gain nine seats.
Far behind the Centrist bloc are Meretz at six seats; United Torah Judaism at five seats; and an even split between Shas and its breakaway party, Eli Yishai’s Ha’am Itanu, at four seats each.
Kadima and Otzma Yehudit apparently were not represented in the poll.
The results indicate the possibility of a right-wing coalition – in the event Likud and Jewish Home, which would garner 39 seats combined, managed to win over at least 21 seats from other parties in building a coalition.
Likud has indicated on several occasions that it would seek alliances with the hareidi parties; the likely candidates are United Torah Judaism (UTJ) at seven seats (bringing the total to 46) and Ha’am Itanu at four seats (bringing the total to fifty). Shas is unlikely to join, given the tensions between it and Yishai and its gravitation toward the Left; however, the additional ten seats could be gained if Likud negotiates with one of the center-right parties, such as Kulanu.
The Walla! poll differs vastly from a Maariv poll published Friday morning which shows Likud and Labor tied at 24 seats each in a best-case scenario, and a Labor win in the event the Arab parties do not form a joint list. It also showed Shas not passing the threshold if the Arab parties ran together.
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