A Channel 12 News poll published on Tuesday shows that 86% of Likud voters support opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu over MK Yuli Edelstein who announced on Monday that he is running against Netanyahu for party leadership.
The poll showed that if elections were held today under Netanyahu, the Likud would garner 34 seats but only 20 seats under Edelstein. However, Edelstein would actually have a chance to form a right-wing government, something that Netanyahu has consistently failed to do due to the many politicians who refuse to join him.
Following the publication of the poll results, which was widely reported by Israeli media. Edelstein responded by emphasizing that he, unlike Netanyahu, has the potential to form a right-wing government “by tomorrow morning.”
“It’s either Lapid or me,” he wrote on Twitter.
Edelstein told Army Radio on Wednesday morning: “The results are very preliminary and prove that what I said was correct – Likud headed by Netanyahu receives more mandates but remains in the opposition, and under me receives less mandates and establishes a government.”
“Four elections tell us that Netanyahu has reached the end of his political path. My way is democratic and I intend to win.”
Meanwhile, it appears as if Edelstein’s ambitions will have to wait for a while as MK Chaim Katz, the chairman of the Likud Central Committee, told Army Radio on Wednesday that Likud primaries won’t be held until the dissolution of the current government.
The results of the poll were as follows:
Likud: 34
Yesh Atid: 18
Shas: 9
Blue and White: 8
Yamina: 7
United Torah Judaism: 7
Labor: 7
Joint List: 6
Religious Zionism: 6
Meretz: 5
Yisrael Beytenu: 5
New Hope: 4
Ra’am: 4
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
4 Responses
The question is: Do Likud voters prefer Bibi as leader of the opposition, or some other Likudnik as Prime Minister? The best course for Likud would be for Bibi to retire from the party’s leadership, accept a permanent #2 slot in the list, be a senior statesman, and let someone else, with Bibi’s support, lead Likud back to power.
Feiglin supporter in Likud.
Thanks for reporting and clarifying.. keep posting on this topic and likud politics in general
Yuli is a such dufus – he probably doesn’t even understand how impossible it is for him to prevail.
5 votes for Israel Bejtenu and Liebermann has a big mouth.A big eater ant jewish antisemite has so much power this can only be in Israel