Gantz Will Overtake Netanyahu by Six Knesset Seats, Poll Predicts

Kahol Lavan, the newly-formed alliance between Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, will overtake Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud in the April 9 election, a poll published Sunday by Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth predicted.

The poll, conducted over the weekend after final party rosters were submitted to Israel's Central Elections Committee on Thursday, saw Kahol Lavan getting 35 Knesset seats and Likud, Israel's ruling party, 29.

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The survey also showed that a center-left-wing bloc would receive as many seats as a right-wing one:

A bloc consisting of Kahol Lavan, Labor (nine seats) and Meretz (four) would reach the same number Likud would together with Hayamin Hehadash (six), Ihud Mifleget Hayamin – the merger between Habayit Hayehudi, Otzma Yehudit and National Union (five), Yisrael Beiteinu (four) and Kulanu (four).

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In addition, the survey saw an ultra-Orthodox bloc consisting of United Torah Judaism and Shas getting 12 seats, the same number an Arab-majority bloc of Hadash-Ta'al and United Arab List-Balad would.

MK Orli Levi-Abekasis' Gesher and former MK Moshe Feiglin's Zehut are not expected to pass the electoral threshold, which stands at 3.25 percent of all valid votes.

The poll was conducted by the Midgam Institute, which is headed by Dr. Mina Tsemach and Mano Geva, in cooperation with IPanel among 500 respondents representing a cross-section of Israeli society, aged 18 and up. The margin of error is 4.4 percent.