The final found of pre-election polls in Israel last week showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu falling short of a clear victory in the October 27 election.
The polls also suggested that his main rival, former Israeli military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, is also short of securing a clear victory and would likely need to rely on the support of Israel’s Arab parties to oust Netanyahu.
The poll from Channel 13 News found that Netanyahu’s bloc would fall from its current 64 seats to a much lower 50 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc needs to secure at least 61 seats for outright victory.
Meanwhile, Eisenkot’s bloc, which consists of right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties, would get 54 seats, beating Netanyahu while still falling short of a clear victory. The poll found that the two Arab parties could get a total of 16 seats.
Channel 12’s final pre-election poll found that Netanyahu’s bloc receives the same 50 seats while Eisenkot’s bloc has a total of 56 seats. The Arab parties in this poll are predicted to have 14 seats.
The poll from Kan 11 News also had Netanyahu’s bloc at 50 seats, but Eisenkot’s bloc had 52 seats, a narrow lead that still leaves both men short of outright victory.
In this poll, the Arab parties were predicted to have 14 seats, while a small party focused on Israeli military reservists and economics secured four seats. This small party, known as the Reservists, has not pledged to support either bloc.
These three major polls found that Netanyahu’s Likud would have 19 to 21 seats, while Eisenkot’s Yashar would secure 22 to 23 seats.
In the final round of polling, the right-wing Channel 14 showed Netanyahu with outright victory, predicting that he would secure 62 seats with his coalition, leaving Eisenkot with only 44 seats.
Channel 14, widely considered a Netanyahu mouthpiece, has repeatedly released polls showing that Netanyahu would secure a clear victory in the elections. These results have been an outlier from virtually every other major poll in the country, which has shown Netanyahu’s coalition falling below the total required for victory.