Israeli newspaper Haaretz and Israeli TV Channel 10 conducted, on Wednesday evening, a poll which revealed that the Labor Party in Israel is gaining seats at the expense of Kadima and Shinui.
The poll was conducted by Professor Camil Fuchs of Tel Aviv University for the Dialog Company. It surveyed a representative sample of 625 respondents.
Haaretz reported on its online edition that one week after internal Likud elections, the party has seen a significant increase of four seats.
The poll results revealed that Labor and Likud, are beginning to bounce back after suffering from the creation of the Kadima Party.
The part, formed by the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Prime lost ground and now has 41 mandates. In previous poll Kadima appeared to be winning 44 Knesset seats.
Yet, it is still too early to tell whether this beginning of an upward trend or simply a momentary leap in the polls, Haaretz added.
According to the poll results, the Likud party received a 4 seats increase, and thus jumping from 13 according to an earlier poll conducted earlier this month, to 17 seats this week.
The Labor Party, headed by Amir Peretz, has also gained three mandates and is now up to 19.
Other parties in Israel, except Shinui, did not receive any significant changes in the strengths, Haaretz reported.
Shinui dropped down to a level which will not enable it to enter the Knesset.
Shas remains with 10 mandates, National Union gained ground slightly and now has seven mandates and United Torah Judaism lost one seat and now has five mandates.
Also, Meretz and Hadash-Ta’al each have five mandates. Yisrael Beiteinu weakens to four seats, the National Religious Party has three and the Arab Balad and Ra’am parties each have two mandates. Over all, the Arab parties gained one seat according to the latest poll.
