The return of Ehud Barak has dramatically shaken up Israel's political landscape, according to a snap poll conducted last night by Channel 13 news, after former Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced that he was setting up an independent list for the September Knesset elections.
According to the poll Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud would win 32 seats (down from 35-37) in recent polls. Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beitenu would win seven seats (down from 8-9 in recent polls), Shas and United Torah Judaism would each win six seats (down from seven each in recent polls), and the New Right and United Right Wing list would each win 4 seats. With such results on September 17, Netanyahu's right wing bloc would only have 59 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, even if Liberman and the Haredi parties could agree to sit in the same government.
According to the Channel 13 poll last night, Benny Gantz's Blue & White party would win 32 seats (down from 33-34 in recent polls), Ehud Barak's new party would win six seats, Meretz six seats and the Labor party five seats, while the United Arab list would win 12 seats.
The picture is still very fluid with Barak's sudden reentry and question marks over who will lead the Labor party, Meretz, the New Right and whether it will team up with the United Right and whether the United Arab list will remain united. The closeness of so many parties to the minimum threshold of four seats is another factor to be taken into account and the latest poll gives an added incentive to Netanyahu to find a legal loophole for canceling the elections.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 27, 2019
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