New poll shows opposition bloc getting Knesset majority if new right-wing party runs

A poll by Channel 12 shows the anti-Netanyahu bloc of parties securing a majority of the Knesset following the October 27 election if a new right-wing party headed by retired maverick Gen. Ofer Winter runs and joins that camp.

Without Winter, the poll shows results consistent with many previous polls. The opposition parties would receive 60 seats, one short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, while the parties supportive of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would get 50 seats, and Arab parties would win the remaining 10 seats.

In present conditions, the opposition Yashar party headed by Gadi Eisenkot would win 24 seats and Netanyahu’s Likud would win 22 seats.

The opposition B’Yachad party headed by former prime minister Naftali Bennett would win 15 seats, followed by the left-wing Democrats at 11 and hawkish opposition Yisrael Beytenu at 10.

Two pro-Netanyahu parties — Haredi United Torah Judaism and far-right Otzma Yehudit — would each win eight seats. The Sephardi Haredi Shas would win seven and far-right Religious Zionism would win five. The Arab parties, Hadash-Ta’al, and Ra’am — would also win five each.

If Winter — who has garnered controversy on the battlefield and was released from the army, but is a proponent of drafting Haredim — forms a party that joins the anti-Netanyahu bloc, he will win five seats and bring the bloc’s total tally to 63k, the poll indicated.

It appears that he would draw many of his votes from the far-right Religious Zionism, which is a pro-Netanyahu party, according to Channel 12.