Three days before Israel’s general elections and the smell of change is finally in the air: Netanyahu continues to lose ground. “Something isn’t going the way it should,” a Likud official admitted.
“Joint List” campaign poster showing the six millionaires leading other parties while Ayman Ode, head of the Joint List, is depicted as “Ayman — One of the People.”
The campaign, which has all along been considered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a sure bet, has seen a shift over the past week, as polls have begun to show a weakening of public support for the prime minister and his Likud party. Haaretz‘s last poll, published Thursday, found that, if the election were held today, the Zionist Union, headed by Isaac Herzog and Zipi Livni, would win 24 Knesset seats, while the Likud would win only 21 seats, having dropped two seats since the last survey. The “Joint List” of Hadash and the Arab parties is predicted to get 13 seats, which would make it the Knesset’s third-largest block. According to this same pole, racist Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party barely crosses the electoral threshold and would win only four seats.
In contrast, the left wing Meretz party has improved its standing and now exceeds the electoral threshold by more than previously with six seats. Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party maintained its 12 seats, while the extreme right-wing HaBayit HaYehudi has gone down a seat and is now predicted to win 11. The ultra-Orthodox party Shas remains stable at seven seats, while United Torah Judaism has lost one seat since the previous poll, dropping to six.
Israelis overwhelmingly want to see the country head in a different direction following the March 17 election, according to a Panels Research poll conducted for Ma’ariv on Wednesday and Thursday. In this latter poll, 72% of respondents said they wanted a change, 20% did not, and 8% had no opinion. A majority said the country was going in the wrong direction on socioeconomic issues and international relations. Asked if they want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue to head the government, 48% said no, as opposed to 41% who responded yes. The Zionist Union took a commanding lead over the Likud in this poll, winning 25 Knesset seats to 21 for Netanyahu’s party, thereby doubling its two seat lead from last week’s poll. According to this last poll, the Joint List stands to win 13 each, HaBayit HaYehudi 11, Kulanu 10, Shas seven, United Torah Judaism six, five each for Meretz and Yahad, and only four for Yisrael Beytenu. Twelve percent of respondents remain undecided. Another poll suggests that the Joint List will reap in the neighborhood of 15 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
