Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar submitted his resignation letter to Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin at the parliament on Wednesday morning.
When the resignation takes effect on Friday morning, he will be replaced in the Knesset by the next candidate on the Likud list, Nissim Vaturi, who is a political adviser to MK David Bitan
Sa’ar announced on Tuesday that he will be leaving Likud and forming a new party that he will use to run for prime minister, because he could no longer remain in the same party as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The Likud has changed and became a tool serving the personal interests of its leader, including in his criminal trial,” Sa’ar said. “I can no longer support the government under Netanyahu and I can no longer be a member of Likud under his leadership. I say with regret, as someone who saw him as the right leader to lead the country and served in senior roles in his governments, Israel needs unity and stability now and Netanyahu cannot provide either one.”
Derech Eretz MKs Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser are set to join the as yet unnamed party on Wednesday. Likud MK Michal Shir is considered very likely to follow, but will not quit the Knesset yet.
MK Sharren Haskel, who supported Sa’ar in his race for the Likud leadership last year, told the N12 website she will stay in Likud. Ramat Gan mayor Carmel Shama-Hacohen and Eilat mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevy announced they would back Sa’ar’s party but not leave their posts to run for the Knesset.
The first poll since Sa’ar made his announcement found that his new party would win 17 seats if elections were held now. The poll, taken by Panels Research for 103FM, which is part of The Jerusalem Post Group, found Sa’ar’s as yet unnamed party would be Israel’s third largest.
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Sa’ar’s list would take support away from every non-Arab and non-haredi (ultra-Orthodox) party.
The Likud would drop to 25 mandates, Yamina would win 19, Yesh Atid 14, the Joint List 11, Yisrael Beytenu seven, Blue and White six, Shas nine, United Torah Judaism seven and Meretz five.
The bloc of parties that opposes Netanyahu remaining prime minister that could potentially form a government without him – Yamina, Sa’ar’s party, Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beytenu and Blue and White – would win 63 seats, according to the poll.
The bloc led by Netanyahu, which includes the Likud, Shas and UTJ would win only 41 mandates.
Idan Zonshine contributed to this report
MK Gideon Sa’ar reshuffled the deck for Israel’s political system on Tuesday night and would gain 17 mandates were the election held today, according to an initial poll conducted for 103FM and published on Wednesday.
The poll was published only hours after Sa’ar announced his from the Likud and the establishment of his new party, which aims to replace Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister.
According to the poll, which was conducted by 103FM, and Menachem Lazar, director of Panels Politics, a new party led by Sa’ar would rank as the third largest party in the political system were the elections held today.
The new party would draw mandates away from almost the entire political system, with the exception of the ultra-Orthodox parties and Meretz. The Likud would drop to 25 mandates in the current poll, with Yamina to 19. Yesh Atid would drop down to 14 mandates, while the Joint List would drop to 11 seats. Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu would receive 7 mandates, Blue and White would receive 6. Shas and United Torah Judaism, as stated, would retain their power – Shas with 9 mandates and UTJ with 7. Meretz closes off the list with 5 stable mandates.
The most intriguing statistic examined in the survey is how the introduction of such a party affects the political map and the chances of each candidate to form a government after the election. The results, here too, are surprising: a bloc led by Netanyahu, which includes the Likud and the ultra-Orthodox parties, reaches only 41 mandates, or 60 with Yamina. An alternative bloc to Netanyahu, led by Sa’ar, and with the participation of Yesh Atid, the Joint List, Yisrael Beytenu, Blue and White and Meretz, would also reach 60 seats in the next Knesset.
Seemingly, then, there is a deadlock between two completely new blocs – but some questions still remain open: how many seats will Sa’ar actually get when the initial effect of his announcement fades and when the composition of his list members is revealed to the public?What will parties like Yamina and Yisrael Beytenu – who have the power to dramatically change the bloc formations, and whose heads have repeatedly stated that they do not intend to automatically join any bloc – do with their newly increased power? And one more key question is on the table: Will there be an election at all – or in light of recent developments, will Netanyahu and Gantz find a way to return their coalition to a working path that will ensure their continued tenure in the leadership?
The answers to these and many other questions will be provided, as always, only very close to Israel’s expected fourth meeting with the polls in two years.
The survey was held on Wednesday through Panel4All’s respondents’ panel for internet research. The survey’s respondents provided a representative sample size of the adult population in the State of Israel from the ages of 18 and up, with the maximum sampling error in the survey being 4.4 percent.
Translated by Idan Zonshine.
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