According to a Knesset Channel poll released on Monday 13 Elul, if elections for Knesset were held today, Likud running without Yisrael Beitenu would remain the largest party with 28 seats. Today, Likud has 31 seats, the result of running on a joint slate with Yisrael Beitenu in the last election.
Interestingly, as Bayit Yehudi remains sharply divided over its proposed new constitution, it comes in second place. Bayit Yehudi would earn 19 seats, a considerable increase from its current 12 seats. Bayit Yehudi members will vote on Wednesday and decide if they wish to accept party leader Naftali Bennett’s proposed constitution, which according to opponents will give Bennett dictatorial powers. One opponent is faction member MK Moti Yogev, who warns if approved the new reality will cost the party heavily in the next election.
Proponents explain the old National Religious Party constitution is no longer relevant and it has to be revamped to meet today’s needs and realities, first and foremost the ongoing effort to bring the dati leumi party to become a significantly larger entity in Knesset.
If the constitution passes, it will also weaken the position of the Tekuma faction headed by Minister Uri Ariel. Ariel sent a strongly worded letter to Bennett on the matter, expressing his opposition as the leader of the Tekuma faction. The Tekuma members will not vote in the election. In addition, if the constitution passes, Bennett will have the right to single handedly decide who to appoint to a cabinet post among the faction members.
Back to the poll, the party in third place in the poll is Labor with 15 seats, the same number it has today. Yisrael Beitenu would earn 10 seats as would Yesh Atid, which currently maintains the second place in the coalition with 19 seats, losing almost 50% of its support base. Yahadut Hatorah would remain at 7 or possibly earn an 8th seat while Shas would drop from 11 to either 7 or 8.
The poll shows Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu remains the most popular for the premiership, with Naftali Bennett following with a mere 13%.Labor party leader Yitzchak Herzog received 10%, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman 8% and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni 8%.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
Our hearts are in our mouths
Whether Israel will remain a more or less jewish state (in anything but for pretenses)might will be determined this coming week when Bayit yehudi votes on the party’s new charter
The choice :between a zionist party which promotes and defends religion or at least semi religion with minimal standards or secularist party with convenient kippot and a few token charda’l on the fringe without influence on the dictatorship of Bennet
How Bayit Yehudi goes ,so goes the country
We’ll all look back on the coming week as a watershed
zionflag wrote on
December 26, 2013 at 12:05 pm:
As Democrats we do not worship every Democratic law & as Republicans we do not advocate every Republican idea. Same works in Israel, most DATI voters who voted Bayit Yehudi do NOT advocate or worship or even agree with BY voting pattern.
Well?We’ll find out in a few days?
About Time wrote:
SOME of us saw it coming and tried over and over to alert the world,but most were snoozing till now
cf. Ramban on Devarim 27:26
One who shirks their obligation to uphold everyone’s Judaism is “Arur”
The most attainable goal now is to alert and Wake Up Yidden seeking Emes.
Rav Aharon Kotler, already warned, that the greatest threat facing Jewry is (not inter-marriage or assimilation, but rather) perversion of the Torah,
(Mishnas Reb Aharon 1:2,3:6).
If you do the math, the only way the “Right” wins the election is if they ally with the hareidim, which would require cancelling conscription. This means that the “new” election will result in a right-center coalition, led by Likud, but needing support from several non-right secular parties – just like today.
#4
With such a “Right”,who needs a Left?
Who needs a “Right” if they’re going to be barely center leftists with nationalistic jingoistic sloganeering ?
#5: Likud left to its own devices (or in a coalition with parties to their “right”, i.e. Bayit Yehudi and Yisrael Beiteinu) would be significantly more nationalistic and also more supportive of capitalism. However they have always been dependent on left-wing parties to form a coalition (and note that the hareidi parties have always been somewhat dove-ish on foreign affairs and basically left wing, perhaps radically so, on economic matters).
The biggest constraint on Israeli nationalists is that it is questionable if Israel could survive without active American support, and strong nationalist policies would encourage the Americans to be indifferent or antagonistic to Israel.
The current coalition holds 68 Knesset seats. The only ‘left-wing’ party in the current coalition is Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua, which holds 6 seats in the Knesset.
Were the current poll reality, Netanyahu could easily form a coalition comprised of current coalition partners Likud(28)+ Habayit Hayehudi(19)+ Yisrael Beitenu(10)+ Yesh Atid(10) = 67 Knesset seats – without Hatnua and without any charedim.
Oh, and the new constitution of Habayit Hayehudi was approved today by a walloping 90% of the party’s members.
Yagel Libi &co.
And you’re again delighted that Judaism is being trampled underfoot?
Go join a different nation