Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is predicted to secure an easy victory in snap elections in April, a poll found on Tuesday.
The Panels Politics poll in the Maariv daily showed Netanyahu's ruling Likud party securing 30 seats in the 120-seat parliament and a majority for his current right-wing, nationalist bloc. It is the same number it took in the last election in 2015.
The closest challenger, the poll said, was a hypothetical party led by former Israeli army chief Benny Gantz, who has been widely touted as a potential center-left candidate.
Gantz has not publicly declared a political affiliation or any intention to run. The center-left Yesh Atid party led by Yair Lapid came in third in the survey, with 12 seats compared with 11 in the current parliament.
Netanyahu on Monday called early elections for April, setting the stage for a three-month campaign clouded by a series of corruption investigations against the long-serving Israeli leader.
With the traditional opposition parties splintered, the only thing seeming to stand in Netanyahu's path toward a fourth consecutive term is a potential indictment against him on corruption charges. Netanyahu is enmeshed in three graft cases and denies any wrongdoing.
The indictment decision had been expected within weeks, but some Israeli media reports said the attorney general could opt to delay the move out of concern he might influence the outcome of the election.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's office said his decision would not be influenced by any political timetable.
"Avichai Mandelblit has an unprecedented time bomb sitting on his desk," wrote Ben Caspit in Maariv, noting that some of Netanyahu's staunchest backers have vowed to support him even if he is convicted. "In this chaotic lunatic asylum, Avichai Mandelblit is the sole responsible adult."
The Justice Ministry said on Monday, after the early election was announced, that work on the cases would continue “independent of political events”.
Commentary accompanying the Maariv poll said that if Netanyahu wins the election, he should be able to able to fulfill a pledge he made on Monday to form a right-wing government similar to the one he currently leads.
The poll predicted that Netanyahu, now in his fourth term, could control at least 63 parliamentary seats, two more than his coalition now holds. It surveyed 502 Israeli Jews and Arabs and had a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.
Other recent polls have shown Netanyahu has remained popular among Israelis despite the investigations against him.
