Moti Leitner, chairman of the HaTzibur HaChareidi (Chareidi Public) party, addressed his party's prospects in the coming elections Sunday night in a question-and-answer session on "Kovi Yisrael Meadken," a leading WhatsApp group in the chareidi sector. Asked how many mandates he expects his party to win, Leitner pointed to recent polls and to the difficulty pollsters face measuring support for his party among chareidim.
Leitner said he has seen a significant surge of support toward his party in recent days, and expressed confidence that the results at the ballot box may differ from what the polls reflect.
He referred to a poll published Thursday in which his party received 2.8% of the vote, about half a percentage point below the Knesset threshold. But even the pollsters themselves, he said, admit they are struggling to assess the party's true strength.
Leitner claimed the pollsters do not know whether support for his party in the chareidi public is worth two mandates or three and a half mandates, and therefore there is uncertainty about the expected result on election day.
Yet despite the uncertainty, he explained that his party has already achieved one of its central goals.
"One thing I know, we've won. We've won by the very fact of our existence," hesaid, explaining that the very fact that tens of thousands of chareidim are expected to vote for his party and express support for the ideas it promotes constitutes a significant achievement in his view.
