Netanyahu’s coalition will lose parliamentary majority if new elections held now : Poll

Tel Aviv, Mar 29 (FN Bureau) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition would fail to create a parliamentary majority, and his Likud party would pick up less than 30 of the Knesset’s 120 seats if new elections were held today, according to a poll released by the Channel 12 of the Israeli television. The survey shows that Netanyahu’s coalition would get 54 seats, and the opposition parties 61 seats while the remaining five seats would go to the Arab parties. The poll shows that if new elections were held today, Likud would only get 25 seats, which is the party’s worst result since 2009, whereas the opposition National Unity bloc led by Benny Gantz would pick up 23 seats (currently holding 12), leaving the centrist Yesh Atid with its 22 seats (currently holding 24) one seat behind.

Currently, the ruling coalition of religious and right-wing parties has 64 seats: 32 of them are held by Netanyahu’s Likud, 11 seats, by ultra-religious bloc Shas, and 7 seats, by Yahadut HaTora (“United Torah Judaism”). The far-right HaTzionut HaDatit (“Religious Zionism”) holds seven seats, Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Power”) six seats, and Noam one seat. The poll results came amid the controversial judicial reform promoted by Netanyahu and actively stonewalled by the opposition. For the last three months, tens of thousands of people have been protesting all across Israel against the reform. On Monday, after long and hard talks with his coalition partners, Netanyahu agreed to put the legislation on hold until the summer session of the Knesset. Even so, protests continue to grip the country.