Election of Avi Gabai as a leader of the Israeli Labour Party on Monday, 10 July 2017, was not as big a surprise as it had been expected. However, the political centre-left wing seemed to be happy that Gabai had won.

Essentially, Gabai has brought hope, albeit instantaneous, to the centre-left wing that the government of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, might come to an end in the next general elections.

However, this “hope” seems to be far from being a reality. Released in the wake of Gabai’s election, opinion polls showed that right wing blocs continued to be ahead of the bloc of centre-left parties. This bloc comprises the Labour Party (the main partner in the Zionist Camp), Yesh Atid (There is a Future) and Meretz.

According to an opinion poll of the Israeli TV Channel 2, the Likud Party will fall from 30 seats in the current Knesset to 25 seats if elections were to be held now. Likewise, the Zionist Camp would drop from 24 to 20 seats.

(However, recent polls showed that the Zionist Camp used to win a little more than 10 seats under the leadership of Yitzhak Herzog). In this poll, the Zionist Camp was ahead for the time of Yesh Atid, which won 18 seats. It should be noted that the latter is represented by 11 seats in the Knesset today.