A poll by Dr. Mina Tzemach and Meno Geva of the Midgam Institute for Channel 2's "Meet the Press" program, to mark a year since Israel's last elections for the Knesset, finds that the Yesh Atid party, led by Yair Lapid, has nearly doubled its strength, while the coalition parties would together win only 57 seats if elections were held today. The coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu currently has the support of 61 of the Knesset's 120 sitting members.
<p>According to the poll, the Likud party would drop from the 30 seats it currently holds to 26, Yesh Atid would jump from 11 seats to 19, and the Zionist Union would become the third largest party, slashed from its current 24 seats to just 18.
<p>The poll finds that the Joint Arab List would maintain its current strength, at 13 seats, and that Habayit Hayehudi headed by Naftali Bennett would grow from eight seats to eleven. Kulanu, headed by Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon, declines from ten seats to seven. The poll finds Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beitenu party improving from six seats in the current Knesset to a projected eight seats.
<p>United Torah Judaism strengthens by one seat from six to seven, while Shas, led by Aryeh Deri, goes the other way, declining from seven current seats to a projected six. The poll finds Meretz maintaining its current strength, barely passing the minimum threshold for obtaining any Knesset representation, with five seats.
<p><i>Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - <a href=http://www.globes-online.com>www.globes-online.com</a> - on March 6, 2016</i>
<p><i>© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016</i>