Blue and White is the largest party, Left-Center bloc gains strength
According to the survey, Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu Party continues to gain popularity, matching the 11 seats each projected for the United Right and the Joint List.
By MAARIV ONLINE, BENJY SINGER
Latest polls show that the Likud is losing ground to Benny Gantz's Blue and White Party, while Yisrael Beyteinu's support continues to grow, Maariv reported on Sunday.In the wake of recent political developments and the closure of the lists, Blue and White is now the largest party in Israel with 30 seats, while the Likud ranks a close second with 29 seats, according to a survey conducted by KAN.Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu Party continues to gain popularity, being projected to win 11 seats, just like Ayelet Shaked's United Right Party alliance and the Arab parties' Joint List.Further down is the Democratic Union – an alliance of Meretz, Ehud Barak's Israel Democratic Party and ex-Labor MK Stav Shaffir – with eight seats; Shas and United Torah Judaism with seven seats each; and Labor with six. Otzma Yehudit and Zehut will not pass the 3.25% electoral threshold, garnering only 2.8% and 2% of the votes respectively.The Left-Center bloc of Blue and White, the Democratic Union and Labor now has 44 seats, while the Right bloc of Likud and the United Right has only 40 seats. The ultra-Orthodox parties are expected to bring their 14 seats to the Right bloc for a total of 54, while the Joint List may bring their 11 seats to the Left bloc making 55 – which would still leave either side needing Yisrael Beytenu's 11 seats to form a government coalition of over 60 seats in the 120 seat Knesset.