TEL AVIV — As Israel’s fifth election in three years nears, polls are pointing to a tie between a bloc headed by Prime Minister Lapid and opposition parties led by a former holder of that office, Benjamin Netanyahu. Can a sixth election be far behind?

The parties are scheduled to finalize their candidates’ lists on Thursday and hand them over to an election overseer. A poll published today by KnessetTV — Israel’s C-Span equivalent — is the first to predict that the Lapid-headed bloc will win 57 of the legislature’s 120-seats. 

According to the poll, Mr. Netanyahu’s rightists would also take 57 seats, while six seats are expected to be won by the Arab-dominated United List, which has vowed to support neither of the Zionist blocs. Along with other indicators, this poll predicts a slight rise in Mr. Lapid’s prospects of maintaining the premiership.

That is, if he indeed can keep his center-left bloc together. 

Caution, though: Left-right classifications are confusing. The true division in the country is pro- and anti-Bibi, the nickname for Mr. Netanyahu. Mr. Lapid’s bloc includes right wing politicians along with his own centrist Yesh Atid party, as well as leftist Zionist players. The only glue that keeps them together is the desire to end Mr. Netanyahu’s political career. 

Decades ago, one party leader, Avigdor Liberman, headed Mr. Netanyahu’s campaign. This week, he equated his former boss to  Joseph Goebbels. Mr. Lapid denounced Mr. Liberman, as did politicians from all parties, even as some of them secretly support the comparison to the Nazi propagandist.  

Mr. Netanyahu, meanwhile, purchased a truck for rallying throngs of supporters around the country. Looking like a pope-mobile, the vehicle is equipped with fortified glass. Dubbed Bibi-ba — Hebrew for “Bibi arrives” — the vehicle’s cost has been widely criticized, even as Mr. Netanyahu says security needs, demanded by the authorities, forced him to fortify it at a significant cost.  

More substantially, Mr. Netanyahu is being panned for his alliance with a firebrand right winger, Itamar Ben Gvir, whose illustrious past includes ugly racist remarks about Arabs, and a threat against a late premier, Yitzhak Rabin.

In a new election ad, Mr. Ben Gvir nevertheless compares himself to “another B.G.” — Israel’s first premier, David Ben Gurion. He is surprisingly expected to fetch as many as nine Knesset seats, and thus could be crucial for Mr. Netanyahu’s hopes for victory. If so, Bibi would be even more despised by his critics, deepening the country’s political divisions. 

The anti-Bibi camp, meanwhile, is far from united. Mr. Lapid is urging two leftist parties, Labor and Meretz, to run on a single list. As a united leftist bloc, he says, the two parties could gain more Knesset seats than if they run separately.

Labor’s leader, Meirav Michaeli, disagrees. A promoter of feminist issues, she is no fan of Meretz’s leader, Zehava Galon, who stresses peace talks with the Palestinian Arabs. 

To the right of Mr. Lapid, a former Likud stalwart, Gideon Saar, is running on a list headed by the defense minister, Benny Gantz. Mr. Saar’s ads are geared toward stealing Likud voters, and an alliance with Ms. Galon and Ms. Michaeli could prove awkward. 

As November 1 nears, Mr. Lapid must end the infighting in his own camp — and even then a victory is far from guaranteed. The more likely outcome is a tie between the blocs, followed by a protracted period of horse trading until one of the candidates manages to capture the premiership.

Judging by such Pyrrhic victories in the recent past, no side will stay in power for too long. Lather, rinse, repeat.