Eisenkot’s Yashar gains to poll even with Likud in public broadcaster’s latest survey

An opinion survey released by the Kan public broadcaster shows the parties of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot would each receive 23 seats if the October 27 elections were held now, making them the largest parties in the Knesset, though neither of their respective parliamentary blocs has a clear path to cobbling together a ruling majority.

Following Likud and Eisenkot’s Yashar party in the poll is B’Yachad with 14 seats, while Yisrael Beytenu, The Democrats and Otzma Yehudit all receive 10 seats.

United Torah Judaism picks up eight seats in the poll, one ahead of fellow ultra-Orthodox party Shas, and the majority Arab Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am parties get six and five seats respectively. Rounding out the field is Religious Zionism with four seats.

Three right-wing parties vying for the support of disaffected coalition voters, along with the hardline Arab nationalist Balad faction, all fail to clear the minimum vote threshold.

Together, Yashar and allied parties have 57 seats, versus 52 for Netanyahu’s coalition and the remaining seats held by Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am, which aren’t formaly aligned with either bloc.

In Kan’s poll from last week, Likud had 24 seats and Yashar 23, while their blocs respectively had 53 and 56 seats.