If the results of the latest Rafi Smith poll for "Globes" are also the results at the ballot box on March 17, the president will face a very difficult dilemma: Likud and Labor, two parties roughly the same size, will stand before him with similar numbers of recommendations. Anyone counting on President Reuven Rivlin's loyalty to Likud, on his being a man of the right, or on his loathing for Netanyahu, should think again. The state president will coolly and deliberately weigh up the balance of forces, and impose the task of forming a government according to his assessment of the life expectancy of the next government.
For 25 years, Rivlin lived and breathed politics. He knows the system inside out, and his insight into it will decide the coalition's fate. How ironic that Rivlin, who did not intend to stand in the Likud primaries for the Likud list had he not been elected president, will be the one to decide how the next government will look.
The latest poll results indicate that Rivlin will also have to examine the possibility of dividing the kingdom in two: Likud and Labor in a unity government. If Netanyahu and Herzog join together, they will have before them quite a few permutations in each of which they could take revenge on Liberman, Lapid, Kahlon, or Bennett, and leave them out.
Poll results
If an election were held today, for which party would you vote?
(Results in terms of Knesset seats, first the current poll, followed by the result of the October poll, and, in parentheses, the number of seats in the current Knesset).
Likud 22, 23 (31)
Yisrael Beitenu 7, 9 (-)
Yesh Atid 9, 8 (19)
Labor-Hatenuah 24, 23 (21)
Habayit Hayehudi 16, 16 (12)
Shas 7, 8 (11)
Yahad (Eli Yishai) 0, 0, (-)
United Torah Judaism 7, 7 (7)
Meretz 7, 6 (6)
Moshe Kahlon party 10, 9 (-)
Hadash 6, 5 (4)
National Democratic Assembly - Ra'am-Ta'al 5, 6 (7)
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 1, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015