Likud, Blue and White tied in polls, majority coalition remains uncertain

Likud and the opposition Blue and White alliance remain tied ahead of Israel’s 17 September election, according to polls published yesterday by Channel 13 News and Channel 12 News.

As reported by Haaretz, both polls give Likud and Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) 32 out of 120 Knesset seats each.

Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party got 11 seats in Channel 13’s poll, and 10 in Channel 12’s.

The two polls predicted 9-10 seats for Ayelet Shaked’s right-wing Yamina list, ten seats for the Joint List and eight seats for United Torah Judaism. Shas was projected to receive 6-7 seats.

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Meanwhile, the centrist alliance Democratic Union gains 6-7 seats, and Labor-Gesher wins 5-6.

The new polls show continued deadlock, and no easy path for either Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Blue and White chair Benny Gantz to form a majority coalition government.

A Israel Hayom and i24NEWS poll released today also showed a tight a race, with Likud winning 31 seats and Blue and White securing 30 seats. Overall, the poll gave 58 seats to the right-wing bloc without Yisrael Beiteinu, while the centrist opposition and Joint List secure 51 seats.

In addition, a Ma’ariv–Radio 103 poll found yesterday that were Blue and White to cancel the planned rotation between Gantz and Yair Lapid, there would be no significant positive impact.

The poll found that with the current arrangement in place, Blue and White get 32 sets, while without the rotation agreement, this would rise by just one seat, to 33 (at the expense of Labor-Gesher).

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