Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu slides to 4 seats in new poll

Zionist Camp at 25, Likud at 23 in Channel 10 survey; Netanyahu 12% ahead of Herzog as preferred PM

The Zionist Camp keeps ahead of the Likud party in an elections poll conducted Wednesday before the Hezbollah attack on the Lebanese border that left two soldiers dead. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party took a steep downturn amid corruption allegations, heading for a mere 4 seats compared to the 13 it holds in the outgoing Knesset..

The Labor-Hatnua party union won a projected 25 seats, two more than the ruling Likud party, the Channel 10 survey by the Midgam polling group found. The Likud party gained three seats to 23 since the previous poll. The Jewish Home party, despite shock at the appointment of former footballer and Gaza disengagement supporter Eli Ohana, saw no change, staying the third largest faction in the Knesset with 16 seats.

The united Arab list got a projected 12 seats, followed by Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid with 10, and Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party with nine.

The religious parties Shas and United Torah Judaism won six seats apiece, followed by Meretz with five and the plummeting Yisrael Beytenu party, mired in a corruption scandal, which dropped from its current 13 seats to a mere four.

Shas breakaway Eli Yishai’s Ha’am Itanu party also scrapes past the threshold with just four seats, according to the Channel 10 poll.

Now that the Knesset threshold has been raised to 3.25%, parties will not be represented unless they gain four seats.

The station’s political correspondent projected that with the current poll findings Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could form a 68 member governing coalition by joining forces with Jewish Home, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Kahlon, Yishai and Yisrael Beytenu. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog would be harder pressed to form a government, having to rope in both the ultra-Orthodox and Yesh Atid to form a fragile ruling coalition of 61 seats.

Netanyahu remained on top as preferred prime ministerial candidate with 44 percent approval, up two points, over Herzog with 32%, and 25% undecided.

The poll conducted Tuesday night surveyed 869 respondents and had a margin of error of 3.3%.