Poll: Coalition Falls to 49 Seats, Giving Majority to Opposition

A new Maariv survey released Friday shows Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s coalition would secure only 49 Knesset seats if elections were held now, giving the opposition an automatic majority.

The findings come amid the ongoing IDF campaign to capture Gaza City and in the wake of Netanyahu’s “Sparta speech,” where he urged the nation to focus on greater independence.

Pollsters asked voters how they would cast their ballots if two new factions were added to the race — “Bennett 2026” led by Naftali Bennett and “Yashar!” led by Gadi Eisenkot — while leaving all other parties as they are.

According to the results, Likud would take 25 seats, five more than Bennett’s party, which would place second with 20.

Behind them, the “Democrats” would capture 11 seats, with Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beytenu at 10.

Eisenkot’s Yashar! would claim nine, while Shas, Otzma Yehudit, and United Torah Judaism are each projected to win eight seats apiece.

Yesh Atid would end up with seven, Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am would each collect five, and Blue and White would scrape by with just four seats, making it the smallest faction in parliament.

Both Balad and Religious Zionism are projected to fall short of the minimum threshold required for representation.

When grouped by political camps, Netanyahu’s coalition would reach 49 seats, the center-left parties together would secure 61, and the Arab factions would hold the remaining 10, consistent with their long-standing stance of not aligning with either bloc.

{Matzav.com}