Poll: Labour-Livni alliance could defeat Likud

A coalition formed by Isaac Herzog’s Labour Party and the Hatnua party led by Tzipi Livni could defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party but the possibility of a right-wing government forming is still possible, a poll taken on Wednesday night for the Jerusalem Post and Ma’ariv Sof Hashavua found.

Israel’s Channel 2 reported the results yesterday, saying it showed that 36 per cent of the respondents said they prefer Netanyahu to head the next government, while 33 per cent said they prefer Livni and Herzog.

The poll revealed that if the Likud and the Jewish Home parties went into election separately, they would win more seats; Likud would win 23 seats and the Jewish Home 15. However, if they decided to go into elections together, they would attain 33 seats in the Knesset.

The poll revealed that Netanyahu could form a coalition government with the right-wing and the Haredi parties (ultra-Orthodox) parties with 73 seats in the Knesset, while it would be difficult for the Labour and Hatnua parties to form a stable coalition government based on more than half of the Knesset members because of the fundamental differences between their members.