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Report: Gantz decided to break up Blue and White after poll results

March 27, 2020 at 11:52 am

Blue and White alliance leader and former, Benny Gantz on 18 February 2020 [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency]

Benny Gantz decided to dismantle his Blue and White opposition party alliance after reading the results of a poll he commissioned, reported Arutz Sheva.

According to news site Srugim, Gantz took action in light of a poll published by Channel 12’s Amit Segal, compelling him to choose a unit government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In the survey, “two questions were asked regarding political scenarios the Blue and White chairman had examined in recent days”, said the report.

“One examined the establishment of a unity government with anti-unity Lapid left on the outside looking in, while the other gauged supporters’ opinions on remaining in the opposition and helping Netanyahu fight the coronavirus outbreak from the outside”, the report continued.

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According to the poll, the first scenario – the establishment of an emergency government headed by Netanyahu along with the right-wing bloc, Blue and White, Labor-Meretz and Yisrael Beiteinu but without Lapid – was backed by 61 percent of Blue and White voters.

The second scenario, by contrast – namely the “establishment of a narrow right-wing government led by Netanyahu, with Blue and White in the opposition along with Lapid supporting the government’s actions [against the virus]…from the outside” – only got the backing of 14 percent of Blue and White supporters.

As noted by the report, this second scenario was the only other possibility without the Joint List becoming part of, or supporting externally, a Gantz-led coalition.