Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition Yashar party would win 25 seats in the Knesset while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud would win just 21 if elections were held now, according to a poll published Thursday by The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael.

Yashar has led most polls in recent weeks, though Likud has usually been hot on his heels, tied or a seat or two behind, with the new results indicating a widening margin for Eisenkot.

But overall, the poll showed little change in the sizes of the pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocs of parties. The so-called change bloc of Netanyahu’s opponents would win 58 seats, short of a majority of 61 in the 120-seat Knesset, while the pro-Netanyahu parties would win 50 seats.

Arab parties would win 12 seats, split evenly between Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al.

Behind the two leading parties, the center-right B’Yachad received 13 seats in the Zman Yisrael poll while the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu won 11 and the left-wing Democrats picked up nine. All are part of the anti-Netanyahu bloc.

Following those were a succession of pro-Netanyahu parties. Shas and United Torah Judaism, both Haredi factions, would win eight each. The far-right Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties would win seven and six seats, respectively.

Three parties vying for the votes of right-wingers who are disenchanted with Likud would all receive too few votes to enter the Knesset, though together they were forecast to pick up some 6 percent of the overall vote, well above the 3.5% minimum threshold.

The poll included 500 respondents and was conducted on August 12-13, with a 4.4% margin of error.

Shin Bet........

© The Times of Israel