Polls show continued deadlock, with nonaligned party set to squeak into Knesset

Separate election polls on Channels 11 and 12 again both show neither the pro- nor anti-Benjamin Netanyahu blocs getting enough votes to win a majority in the Knesset.

Polls have consistently shown for months that both camps would fall short of a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat body.

But in a shift, both of today’s polls show that a center-right party, led by Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha, would receive just enough votes to make it in with four seats. The party is not aligned with either of the two blocs.

The Channel 11 poll finds that the blocs supporting and opposing the prime minister would win 52 seats each. The largely Arab parties would win 12 seats in total, while the Hendel-Zelekha party would win the remaining four.

The Channel 12 poll finds that the anti-Netanyahu bloc would win 54 seats, a decline from its previous surveys, while the pro-Netanyahu bloc would win 50. The largely Arab parties would likewise win 12 seats in total, while the Hendel-Zelekha party would win four.

Both Channels 11 and 12 show Gadi Eisenkot’s centrist opposition Yashar party leading with 24 or 23 votes, respectively, followed by Netanyahu’s Likud with 20. The polls additionally show both the far-right Religious Zionism and Ofer Winter’s new right-wing party, The People of Israel, getting enough votes to enter the Knesset.

Both polls were published today. Channel 11’s had 551 respondents and a margin of error of 4.2%. Channel 12’s had 502 respondents and a margin of error of 4.4%.