According to the latest Knesset Channel poll conducted by the “Panels Politics” institute, the scent of possible early elections has not caused a meaningful shift in the Israeli public’s political preferences. The poll gives Likud 22 seats, leaving it as the largest party followed by the extreme right wing HaBeit HaYehudi under Naftali Bennett, with 17 seats. In third place is Labor with 14 seats trailed by Yesh Atid with 10 and Meretz with 9 seats respectively. Yisrael Beytenu would have 8 MKs, as would the ultra-orthodox Haredi parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas.

According to the poll, the new party founded by ex-Likud minister Moshe Kahlon is down from previous weeks with 7 MKs while Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua just barely makes it into the Knesset, with 4 seats – down from the 6 currently held. Any further weakening would leave Livni’s list below the minimum threshold required for entering the Knesset. Hadash and the Arab parties, which themselves have been concerned about not individually receiving enough votes to pass this threshold appear, in this respect at least, to currently have nothing to worry about: The poll gives Hadash 5 MKs (compared with 4 seats today), while Balad and Raam-Taal each receive 4 seats.