An Israeli television survey aired Tuesday pointed to mounting support for MK Gadi Eisenkot to replace Benny Gantz as the head of the National Unity party.

Channel 12 news polled two scenarios in the likely case that former prime minister Naftali Bennett returns to politics and starts a new party. With Eisenkot as the head of National Unity, the centrist faction would receive 12 seats, while when Gantz is at the helm, it only receives eight seats, according to the network.

Gantz has come under fire for regularly avoiding to take clear stances on contentious issues to avoid upsetting either side of the political spectrum, while Eisenkot has taken more clear positions, particularly in favor of securing the release of hostages and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war.

The poll’s respondents were also asked who they would vote for if elections were held today, with a Gantz-led National Unity finishing as the second largest party if Bennett does not run. The survey did not ask how respondents would vote if National Unity were headed by Eisenkot and Bennett remained on the sidelines.

The results were as follows:

Likud: 25 seats
National Unity: 17 seats
The Democrats: 14 seats
Yesh Atid: 13 seats
Yisrael Beytenu: 12 seats
Shas: 9 seats
United Torah Judaism: 8 seats
Otzma Yehudit: 7 seats
Religious Zionism: 5 seats
Hadash-Ta’al: 5 seats
Ra’am: 5 seats
Balad: 0 seats
New Hope: 0 seats

Such an outcome would leave the current coalition with just 54 seats. The opposition without the majority Arab Hadash-Ta’al, which is unaligned with either bloc, would have 61 seats — just enough to form a coalition in the 120-seat Knesset, but a slight drop from previous polls.

Respondents were then asked who they would vote for in the likely scenario that Bennett returns to politics with a new party, while Gantz heads........

© The Times of Israel