A Channel 10 News poll broadcast on Thursday night, October 25, found that, if elections for the 21st Knesset were held today, the Likud party headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would win 30 seats, but would win just 25 seats if it were to be led by former minister Gideon Sa’ar. The Likud has 30 seats in the current Knesset.

Joint List head MK Ayman Odeh and MK Dov Khenin: “All citizens are equal – Jews and Arabs” (Photo: Al-Ittihad)

The poll also found that if elections were held today, the second largest party representation would go to the center right Yesh Atid party which would win 19 seats. Yesh Atid currently has 11 MKs and sits with the parliamentary opposition. The Joint List under the leadership of MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) would increase its representatives to 14, one more than in the current Knesset, and retain its current position as the third largest bloc in the Knesset.

The most dramatic change in the number of its representatives would be for the Labour Party – Zionist Union bloc, currently the leading force in the opposition, which would lose half of its current 24 seats, dropping to just 12. The far right and clericalist Jewish Home would win 10 seats, an increase of 2; the Ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism would retain its 6 seats; and the left wing Meretz would finish with 8 seats, a gain of 3 from the current Knesset. The Neo-Liberal Kulanu party would drop from 10 to 7 seats, and far right Yisrael Beytenu headed by Avigdor Liberman would remain steady with 5 seats. Shas, the Ultra-Orthodox Sephardi party, would drop from 7 to 4 seats. A new party headed by MK Orly Levi-Abekasis, now in the opposition, would win 5 seats.