According to a new survey by Israel Radio, 43% favor Benjamin Netanyahu as the next Prime Minister with Herzog close behind at 41%.
Netanyahu this week easily retained the Likud party leadership while results also confirmed that the list of Likud parliamentary candidates is heavily populated by those considered Netanyahu allies.
55 per cent of Likud members participated in the primaries. Netanyahu secured 75 per cent of the vote for party leader, crushing his sole challenger MK Danny Danon, who received just 16 per cent with 9 per cent abstaining.
The scale of Netanyahu’s victory will be seen as an important vote of confidence ahead of the 17 March general election.
The Likud’s list of parliamentary candidates will also be viewed similarly, as the results defied speculation of impending domination by the right-wing of the party, which has been openly critical of Netanyahu’s leadership.
Interior Minister Gilad Erdan secured second spot on the list with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein in third place. Also in prominent positions are the likes of Israel Katz, Silvan Shalom, Moshe Ya’alon, Ze’ev Elkin and Tzachi Hanegbi, all considered Netanyahu allies. Only Miri Regev in fifth spot and Danon in a disappointing tenth position are considered spearheads of the party’s right-wing.
Netanyahu called the slate an “amazing” list, commenting, “Contrary to early forecasts, the members of Likud chose a balanced, responsible list that will help me continue governing the country responsibly, with security and success. That is the true spirit of the Likud Party.”
Labour party leader Isaac Herzog and Hatnuah leader Tzipi Livni, who head a joint ticket said, “The faces and names on the Likud list are the same faces and names that brought the country to a situation in which poverty is becoming worse, Israel is increasingly isolated, and young couples can’t buy an apartment.”
The primaries also saw Likud members approve a proposal under which Netanyahu will select candidates in slots 11 and 23 on the party’s Knesset list.
The final Knesset slate was hailed by Netanyahu as “fantastic,” and saw most of his favored candidates placed in slots high enough to likely secure a Knesset seat, and most of those candidates he did not favor fare poorly. However, the list features only two women in the top 20 slots, and is low on Orthodox candidates and candidates favored by the settlement community, which could make Likud vulnerable to the Orthodox-nationalist Jewish Home party. Netanyahu may choose to address this when he appoints two candidates of his own choice for slots 11 and 23 later this month.

Poll: Right-wing, haredi parties garner 69 seats combined

According to new survey by Israel Radio, 43% favor Netanyahu as Prime Minister with Herzog close behind at 41%
The poll also finds that the right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu’s Likud party could garner as many as 69 seats in the next 120-member Knesset if it partnered with Moshe Kahlon’s newcomer center-right party Kulanu.
The Likud received 23 seats, Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home got 16 mandates, Yisrael Beytenu led by Avigdor Liberman garnered 7 seats as did the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas and the Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism, each.
The joint list of Labor-Hatnua led by Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog was still the largest single party with 24 seats, however, according to the poll. The question remains if the combined party could form a viable coalition.
Along with its 24 seats on the center-left bloc, Yair Lapid’s centrist party Yesh Atid got 9 and Meretz 7. The Arab parties Ra’am-Taal partnered with Balad would get 5 and the Jewish-Arab party Hadash led by Ahmed Tibi would receive 6 Knesset seats.
Former Shas chairman Eli Yishai’s new party would not pass the electoral threshold, a finding consistent with previous polls, although it was close to receiving the requisite 3.25 percent of the vote, which is equivalent to four Knesset seats.
A Channel 2 poll earlier this week found the Likud and Labor-Hatnua neck and neck with 24 seats each.