Smotrich and Feiglin Parties Unite, Surpass Knesset Threshold

A new political alliance formed by Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party and Moshe Feiglin of the Zehut movement has significantly altered Israel's political landscape. According to a poll conducted by Dr. Menachem Lazar and Panel4ALL, the joint list is projected to win 5 Knesset seats, comfortably clearing the electoral threshold.

This development, alongside the anticipated entry of Ofer Winter's "Amcha Israel" party with 4 seats, has bolstered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. The coalition's projected strength now stands at 51 seats, its highest point since May. Conversely, the opposition bloc has weakened, losing two seats to reach 57, largely due to a decline in support for the "Yashar!" party. Arab political parties also saw a decrease of one seat.

In the overall projected distribution, "Yashar!" leads with 23 seats, followed by "Likud" with 20 and "Together" with 15. Other parties expected to gain seats include "Democrats" (10), "Yisrael Beiteinu" (9), and "Otzma Yehudit" (8). "Yahadut HaTorah," Shas, and the Hadash-Ta'al-Balad bloc are each projected to secure 7 seats.

The inclusion of these new political forces is expected to reduce the number of wasted votes, which currently stands at approximately 8 seats worth of votes, to 6.7 percent.