Blue and White leads new poll, both blocs still need Liberman or unity

The Israel Hayom poll leaves right-wing bloc with 51 seats and the left-center bloc with 47 seats, leaving neither side with a majority.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The ballot slips in an election booth that represent the various parties only contain Hebrew letters, with no translation into Arabic, English or any other language (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The ballot slips in an election booth that represent the various parties only contain Hebrew letters, with no translation into Arabic, English or any other language
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Blue and White are on track to lead the ballot in Israel's third elections in a year, with a poll by Israel Hayom forecasting they will win 37 seats
Their main opposition, the Likud party, were slated by the poll to take 31 seats, but only 59% of respondents were sure that they would go out and vote in the upcoming elections.
 
The Joint List are likely to be the third largest party with 14 seats, followed by Shas and Yisrael Beytenu with eight seats each, UTJ with seven seats, Labor-Gesher with six seats, the New Right with 5 seats and the Democratic Union with 4 seats.
 
The Bayit Yehudi, National Union and Otzma Yehudit parties are not expected to pass the election threshold, according to the poll.
 
If the poll results are borne out, they would give the right-wing bloc 51 seats and the left-center bloc 47 seats, leaving neither side with a majority. The Joint List and Yisrael Beytenu are not counted within either bloc.
 
If Gideon Sa'ar were to head Likud, his party would still get 31 seats, but Blue and White would likely drop to 33 seats. The Joint List would be the third largest party with 15 seats, followed by Shas with 11 seats, UTJ, Yisrael Beytenu and the New Right with seven seats each, Labor-Gesher with five seats and the Democratic Union with four seats.
 
The Bayit Yehudi, National Union and Otzma Yehudit parties are still not expected to pass the election threshold in a scenario with Sa'ar leading the Likud party.
 
In this case, the right-wing bloc would end up with 56 seats and the left-center bloc would end up with 42 seats, leaving neither side with a majority. The Joint List and Yisrael Beytenu are not counted within either bloc.
 
42% of those surveyed responded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more fit to serve as prime minister, while 40% said that than Blue and White leader Benny Gantz would do better in the role. 18% were undecided between the two.
 
In comparison, 36% said that Gantz is more fit to serve than Gideon Sa'ar, while 31% backed Sa'ar. 33% responded that they didn't know who would be better between the two.
 
Israel will vote for the 23rd Knesset on March 2, 2020.