A Channel 10 poll taken earlier in the week shows a continued decline for the Shas party, which would only earn six seats if elections were held today. This is five fewer seats than the Sephardi chareidi party has in the current Knesset.
The poll’s results were released on Monday night the eve of 25 Marcheshvan. The poll was conducted by Project HaMidgam headed by Dr. Ariel Ayalon and under the supervision of Prof. Camil Fuchs.
The question posted to participants in the poll is voting for Shas under its current leader, Aryeh Deri.
With polls being less than encouraging for Shas, Deri in recent weeks has attempted to minimize the significance and reliability of polls in general. Another poll, conducted by Channel 1 and released over the weekend predicted Shas receives 7 seats.
While Deri refuses to acknowledge he is concerned due to the pessimistic polls, former party leader MK Eli Yishai told the media he is worried. He feels there are things that require immediate attention and efforts must be made to bring Shas voters back home.
The poll also shows Bayit Yehudi headed by Naftali Bennett would receive 17 seats, up from its current 12. Likud headed by PM Netanyahu receives 22 seats and Yesh Atid headed by Minister Yair Lapid would drop from its current 19 seats to 14. Labor headed by MK Yitzchak Herzog earned 13 seats, down from its current 15 seats.
Other results include Yisrael Beitenu headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman received 9 seats and Yahadut Hatorah gains a seat with 8. Meretz headed by Zahava Gal-On received 7 seats, up from the current 6 and The Movement headed by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni receives 4 seats, down from its current 6. The combined Arab parties received 11 seats.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
6 Responses
In that case, I hope elections are held soon. Deri is a leftist who supported Oslo and we saw yesterday the results of that.
In other words no change. The three nationalist parties are well below 60, so they have to ally with either the hareidim (with conscription being a problem) or the left-center parties (as they do at present).
One should note that Israeli polls historically underestimate Shas’s support, so the poll has to be taken with a grain of salt.
If only it were true. Maybe Shas would then get rid of Deri and regain some credibility.
Sha”s has consistently been dropping in the polls since harav Ovadia passed away and left Deri at the helm. Yes, in the past polls have often slightly underestimated support for Sha”s but you’re kidding yourself if you think that the drop to 6-7 seats should be attributed to poor polling.
Barring the unforeseeable, if Deri does not step down from the leadership position (and who really thinks that he will?) public support for Sha”s will likely continue to erode.
yawn
this poll is much different than all the others