politics
Polls Show Opposition Bloc Short of Majority Without Arab Parties
Recent surveys indicate the bloc of Jewish parties opposing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would fall four seats short of a majority if elections were held now. Leaders of several opposition parties have ruled out cooperation with Arab parties.
May 20, 4:57 PM·1m read1 source
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The surveys reflect recent trends in which opposition parties remain unlikely to secure enough seats without such cooperation.
Leaders of several parties in the anti-Netanyahu bloc have ruled out cooperation with Arab parties, leaving the bloc four seats short of the 61-seat majority required to form a government. The poll shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party as the largest single party with 25 seats, down one seat from the previous survey.
The "Beyahad" merger party led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Yair Lapid holds 23 seats, down one seat from the prior poll. Gadi Eisenkot's "Yashar" party gains one seat to reach 16. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party crosses the electoral threshold with four seats, after failing to do so in earlier surveys.
Likud gains one seat to reach 27, while the Bennett-Lapid party loses two seats and holds 23. Eisenkot's party gains one seat to reach 16. The Kan 11 poll was conducted by the Kantar Institute using an online sample of 551 people with a margin of error of 4.2 percent.
The Channel 12 poll was conducted by the Midgam Institute with 501 participants and a margin of error of 4.4 percent. Both polls indicate that the Religious Zionism party may or may not cross the electoral threshold depending on the survey.
