Right-wing Bloc Grows Stronger as Netanyahu Holds Narrow Lead Over Gantz, Poll Shows
Public broadcaster poll projects 58 seats for right-wing bloc, with center-left bloc following with 56
Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party is predicted to be the largest in the Israeli parliament, surpassing Benny Gantz's Kahol Lavan by one Knesset seat in next week's Israel election, according to a poll published by Israel's public broadcaster Kan on Thursday.
Likud is projected to get 35 seats, while Kahol Lavan follows behind with 34 seats, similar to opinion polls published on Monday.
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Moreover, 45 percent of respondents said Netanyahu is the most suited to serve as prime minister, while 34 percent favored Gantz for the job.
According to the Kan survey, the right-wing bloc is expected to get 58 seats, whereas the center-left bloc and the Joint List alliance of Arab-majority parties poll together 56 seats. The Joint List alone is predicted to get 14 seats.
Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu is predicted to win 6 seats, weakening by one seat compared to previous polls, but is still the party with the most power to break the parliamentary deadlock.
The Left-wing Labor-Gesher-Meretz slate, as well as the Ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas polled eight seats each.
The right-wing coalition Yamina, headed by Defense Minister Naftali Bennet, is projected to win 7 seats according to Kan, while the Kahanist party Otzma Yehudit fails to pass the 3.25 percent threshold required to enter the Knesset, the Kan poll showed.
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The poll was conducted by Kantar Media among 1,206 respondents out of 4,436 who requested to participate in the survey. The margin of error is 2.9 percentages. The data was collected from February 26 -27.