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Poll: Most Israelis will repeat April election vote in September

August 23, 2019 at 10:49 am

A voting booth is seen during the Israeli general elections in Tel Aviv on 9 April 2019 [Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Anadolu Agency]

A majority of Israelis plan to vote in September’s elections in the same way that they voted in April, according to the results of a new i24NEWSIsrael Hayom poll.

Israelis are gearing up to vote for the second time in six months, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to form a coalition government earlier this year.

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While Likud won the most Knesset seats in April, narrowly beating Blue and White (Kahol Lavan), Netanyahu was unable to secure the 61-seat minimum to form a government.

According to the new poll, “while the majority of Israelis say they will vote as they did in April, there remains a significant margin of voters looking to potentially switch their allegiance from the last round of elections”.

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Some 60 per cent of Israelis said they plan to vote for the same party in September as they did in April, with 23 per cent saying they will opt for a different party. Seventeen per cent of respondents said they do not yet know if they will vote for the same party.

In particular, Likud, Blue and White, and Yisrael Beiteinu voters plan to vote for their parties again – 79, 71, and 72 per cent respectively. Worryingly for Labor, however, only 33 per cent of those who voted for the party in April plan to do so in September.

Most polls are predicting a similar result in September’s election to April’s, meaning that – barring developments such as the formation of a unity government – Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu will once again be in the position of king-maker.