As many as 53.5 percent of Israeli citizens feel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should resign immediately, while nearly half of right-wing voters who support Netanyahu's Likud party believe that he should resign if indicted, a fresh survey revealed
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2019) As many as 53.5 percent of Israeli citizens feel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should resign immediately, while nearly half of right-wing voters who support Netanyahu's Likud party believe that he should resign if indicted, a fresh survey revealed.According to the survey conducted by the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute, 65 percent of Israelis believe that Netanyahu should resign as head of Likud if he is indicted, while 24 percent oppose the move.
As many as 38 percent of respondents oppose Netanyahu's immediate resignation, the survey said.
The majority of Israelis 56 percent support the idea of two large parties forming the political spectrum in the country, while 33 percent oppose this idea. The supporters of smaller parties, mostly religious ones, in Israel's Knesset mainly oppose reducing the number of parties.
As many as 56 percent of respondents support a rotation between Netanyahu and the chairman of the Blue and White alliance, Benny Gantz in the position of prime minister. A total of 14 percent of respondents support a rotation only if Netanyahu is first in line to serve as the head of state and 20 percent only if Gantz is first to head the government. As many as 32 percent of respondents oppose any rotation.
After neither of the parties managed to secure the required 61-seat majority in the September 17 general election, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin tasked Netanyahu with forming a coalition government. However, Netanyahu handed back the mandate to form a government to Rivlin on Monday after he failed to form a ruling coalition within the 28-day deadline. In accordance with the law, the president must now transfer the mandate to Gantz.
Blue and White won the most seats in the September 17 vote 33, while Likud came in second with 32. Gantz has refused to enter coalition talks with the prime minister, who is under investigation for corruption.
Netanyahu, who turned 70 on Monday, has been at the government's helm for 10 years. He became the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history in June, beating the record set by the Jewish state's founding father, David Ben-Gurion.
The poll was conducted from October 3-6 on the internet and by telephone among 501 men and women interviewed in Hebrew and 100 in Arabic, constituting a representative national sample of the entire adult population of Israel aged 18 and older.
