A new survey conducted by Channel 12 reveals that if national elections were held in Israel today, the coalition currently led by Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu would only secure 48 Knesset seats—well below the 60 seats needed to maintain power.
The poll shows that opposition parties, led by Naftali Bennett under the banner of his newly established political party, would garner 72 seats. Even without the backing of Arab-majority factions Chadash-Ta’al and Ra’am, Bennett’s alliance would still cross the majority threshold with 62 seats.
This survey was conducted in the wake of a dramatic announcement by the spiritual leader of Degel HaTorah, a constituent of the chareidi United Torah Judaism party, who called on party lawmakers to submit legislation to disband the Knesset over the coalition’s failure to enact draft exemptions for yeshiva students.
According to the poll results, Bennett’s party would take the lead with 24 seats, placing it ahead of Likud, which would obtain 22 seats.
The remaining seats in the 120-member Knesset would be distributed as follows: the Democrats would win 12 seats; Shas and Yisrael Beytenu would each claim 10; Yesh Atid would hold 9; Otzma Yehudit and UTJ would each receive 8; National Unity would have 7; and both Chadash-Ta’al and Ra’am would take 5 apiece.
Neither Religious Zionism nor Balad would pass the electoral threshold to enter the Knesset.
Given the rising tensions surrounding conscription laws and UTJ’s threats to collapse the coalition, Channel 12 also asked participants whether they supported the inclusion of chareidi parties in any future government.
Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said they did not want the ultra-Orthodox factions in the next coalition. Thirty-three percent expressed support for their participation, while 12 percent were undecided.
{Matzav.com Israel}