For the first time, a poll has predicted that the Jewish opposition parties would win a majority of seats in the Knesset and would not need an Arab party to form a government.
The poll, released by Channel 13 television Wednesday night, found that the governing coalition was losing seats, and would win only 50 altogether were the election held today. The Arab parties would win nine seats – two fewer than in the previous polls – and the Jewish opposition parties would win the remaining 61.
In another first, the poll found that a new party led by Yoaz Hendel and Chili Tropper would win the four seats needed to enter the Knesset. Previous polls had shown the party failing to cross the electoral threshold.
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The ruling Likud party remained the largest one with 22 seats, unchanged from the previous poll.
Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party lost two seats, falling to 21, while the Together party led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid held steady at 15 seats. The Democrats gained a seat, to 11, while Yisrael Beiteinu gained two seats, to 10.
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United Torah Judaism remained at eight seats, but Shas, the other ultra-Orthodox party, lost three seats, winning only seven.
Otzma Yehudit also won seven seats, one less than in the previous poll. In contrast, Religious Zionism gained a seat, rising to six.
Among the Arab parties, Hadash-Ta’al and United Arab List each lost a seat, falling to five and four seats, respectively. The third Arab party, Balad, failed to cross the electoral threshold, winning just 2.0 percent of the vote. Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan similarly failed to make it into the Knesset, wining just 0.8 percent of the vote. Both parties had also failed to enter the Knesset in previous polls.
The poll was conducted by the Madad in cooperation with the Midgam, Askaria and Statnet companies. It did not say how many of the people questioned actually responded or a provide a margin of error.