Netanyahu, Herzog won’t join televised election debate
Close race between Zionist Union and Likud in latest polls; Netanyahu still seen as preferred candidate for PM
Party leaders are set to engage in a televised election debate this week, but the two heavyweights — Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Zionist Union chief Isaac Herzog — won’t take part.
The debate, which will be broadcast on Channel 2 Thursday evening, will involve Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett, Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid, United Arab List leader Ayman Odeh, Kulanu’s Moshe Kahlon, Meretz’s Zahava Gal-on, Yisrael Beytenu’s Avigdor Liberman, Shas’s Aryeh Deri and his former comrade-turned-rival, Yachad party leader Eli Yishai.
The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party also declined to send its party leader, Yaakov Litzman, to take part in the televised debate.
In the run up to the debate, the latrest pre-election polls show Zionist Camp and Likud continuing to jockey for position at the lead of the pack.
A Haaretz poll published Wednesday showed a two-seat drop for Likud to 23 seats since the beginning of February, drawing it even with the Zionist Union. Jewish Home, Yesh Atid and the United Arab List came in next with 12 seats apiece, followed by Kulanu with nine, UTJ and Shas with seven, Yisrael Beytenu with six, Meretz with five, and Yachad with four. The survey had a sample size of 514 and a margin of error of 4.2 percent.
A similar poll published Tuesday by Channel 2 gave Zionist Camp 24 seats, a two point lead over Likud. Jewish Home, Yesh Atid and United List came in next with 12 apiece, and Kulanu, Shas and UTJ each got seven. Yisrael Beytenu and Meretz drew six seats and Yachad got five. The survey drew its findings from 614 respondents and had a 3.8% margin of error.
The Channel 2 survey found that Netanyahu remained the preferred candidate for prime minister, with 44% of respondents saying they liked him for the top job and only 32% naming Herzog. Nearly a quarter, 24%, remained undecided.
