Poll: Netanyahu leads, Gaydamak worth 13 Knesset seats

Survey conducted by Dahaf Institute for Yedioth Ahronoth reveals if elections were held today Likud would get 20 Knesset seats, Kadima and Labor would each drop to 15 seats. Meretz to gain strength with eight seats, while Pensioners Party may watch Knesset on television

Ynet|Published: 11.22.06 , 07:54

Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu had a good reason to be satisfied Wednesday morning. According to a poll conducted by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily and the Dahaf Institute headed by Mina Tzemach, if the elections were to be held today, the Likud party would receive 20 Knesset seats, compared to 12 it holds today.

The complete survey will be published in Yedioth Ahronoth's Shabbat supplement.

Kadima, led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, crashes to 15 Knesset seats, nearly half of the seats it has today.

The Labor Party, led by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, gets a similar amount of seats, compared to the 19 it holds today.

Both Peretz and Olmert are paying for the failures revealed during the Lebanon war. More and more people have been recently calling to replace Peretz as defense minister.

Meretz is the big winner of the Left, as it is expected to receive a significant number of voters disappointed by Peretz and gain strength with eight Knesset seats compared to the five it has today.

In the past, there were talks about a possible merger between Meretz and the Labor Party, and this option may be considered again ahead of elections.

Head to head with Lieberman

The rising star in Israeli politics, business mogul Arcadi Gyadamak, would get 13 Knesset seats if he would choose to run in the elections today. Gaydamak recently gained popularity following the evacuation of Sderot residents to Eilat.

Although he was slammed by the government, residents of the southern town admire the person who took initiative where the public systems failed.

Israel Our Home, led by Avigdor Lieberamn, will compete head to head with Gaydamak's party over the new immigrants, and this is well reflected in the poll, in which Lieberman receives 10 Knesset seats, only one less than the number of seats he has today.

Shas, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth poll, drops to 11 seats compared to 12 it holds today. The Arab parties get 10 seats altogether.

National Unity-National Religious Party is expected to get nine Knesset seats, the same number of seats it has today. United Torah Judaism also receives the same number of seats it has today – six, while the Pensioners Party drops from seven seats to only three seats.