Israel election: Netanyahu's right-wing bloc advances against Gantz

The latest election polls in Israel have found that a right-wing bloc led by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds the lead over his rival Benny Gantz.

The poll, which was conducted by Israel’s Channel 12, showed that Netanyahu’s Likud party would win 28 seats in the Knesset during the upcoming election on 9 April, while Gantz’s Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) alliance is to win 31 seats, Safa news agency reported.

However, despite the fact that Gantz would win the most seats overall, Netanyahu would likely receive the support of 64 seats out of 120 given the polling figures for the right-wing bloc as a whole. This could leave Gantz unable to form a majority government or mean that, when each party recommends who they believe should form the government to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin after 9 April, Netanyahu will receive the most recommendations.

Another poll conducted by Israel Hayom showed that Likud is expected to get 26 seats compared to Gantz’s 33 seats. Like the Channel 12 poll, however, Israel Hayom found that Likud is expected to win the support of 66 seats, while the centrists led by Gantz would only receive 54. This however is including the seats won by the Arab-Israeli alliances Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am Balad, should the latter be allowed to contest the election.

Gantz however has previously all-but ruled out working with the Arab-Israeli parties, claiming he is seeking only “Jewish and Zionist” allies. With the Arab-Israeli alliances expected to win anywhere between ten and 15 seats, this could leave Gantz short of much-needed seats that would support his bloc.

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