Poll: Likud would still be biggest party if Netanyahu rival heads party

After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused former Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar of seeking to oust him, a new poll released this evening says the ruling party would lose seats in fresh elections if it were headed by Sa’ar, but still remain the largest faction in the Knesset.

According to the Channel 10 news survey, Likud would get 30 Knesset seats under Netanyahu, as opposed to 25 under Sa’ar. The party has 30 seats in the current Knesset.

Followed by Likud is the centrist Yesh Atid party, which the survey says would win 19 seats whether squaring off against Netanyahu or Sa’ar.

While the right-wing Jewish Home and Yisrael Beytenu parties would win 10 and 5 seats respectively if Netanyahu heads Likud, the poll says Jewish Home would pick up three of the seats lost to the ruling party under Sa’ar, while Yisrael Beytenu would get the other two.

In a separate poll aired Thursday by Hadashot TV news, 17 of percent respondents say they believed Netanyahu’s version of events, 35% say Sa’ar and 48% say they don’t know. Among Likud voters, those numbers are 37%, 13%, and 50% respectively.