Main parties line up for Israel's October election

Israel will hold a general election on October 27, the Knesset announced, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud facing challenges from new and existing parties across the political spectrum.

Likud, led by Netanyahu, currently has 32 of the Knesset's 120 seats. AFP describes the party as right-wing, combining nationalism and free-market economics. Netanyahu remains Likud's most popular candidate according to polls, despite Israeli authorities' failure to prevent Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.

Yashar, a centrist party led by former military chief Gadi Eizenkot, currently has no parliamentary seats. Eizenkot served as a minister without portfolio in Netanyahu's government from October 2023 to June 2024. He founded Yashar in 2025, and the party says it is centred on Israel's Jewish and democratic identity. AFP describes Eizenkot as Netanyahu's main rival.

Beyahad is a centre-right alliance between former prime minister Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Yair Lapid, who leads the centrist Yesh Atid party. Beyahad itself has no seats, while Yesh Atid has 24. Bennett and Lapid, who previously formed a government together from 2021 to 2022, are running on the same ticket. Bennett describes himself as right-wing, while Lapid presents himself as centrist and secular.

HaDemokratim, or The Democrats, is a left-wing party led by former deputy military chief of staff Yair Golan and has four parliamentary seats. Golan brought together the Labour Party and Meretz. AFP says The Democrats are the only non-Arab party supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Shas, led by former minister Aryeh Deri, is an ultra-Orthodox party with 11 seats. Founded in 1984 to represent Sephardic Jewish voters, it says it represents poorer sections of society and has often been Netanyahu's preferred coalition ally. It has opposed conscription of ultra-Orthodox men.

United Torah Judaism, led by Yitzhak Goldknopf, has seven seats. It is a union of two Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox factions and campaigns against conscription of yeshiva students and for a stronger religious Jewish character for the state.

Otzma Yehudit, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, is a far-right religious party with six seats and is part of Netanyahu's governing coalition. AFP says Ben Gvir pushed through a law requiring the death sentence by default for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank convicted of deadly attacks classified as terrorism against Israel.

Religious Zionism, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, is also far-right and has seven seats. It is part of the government, advocates annexing all of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and seeks to strengthen the state's Jewish religious character. Smotrich has worked to expand settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law, and to withhold the Palestinian Authority's tax revenues.

Yisrael Beiteinu, led by former defence, foreign and finance minister Avigdor Lieberman, is a secular right-wing party with six seats. Lieberman founded it in 1999, and it campaigns for separation of religion and state.

Raam, led by Mansour Abbas, is an Islamist conservative Arab party with five seats. AFP says it is close to the Islamist movement and historically stems from the Muslim Brotherhood. Abbas advocates equal rights for Israel's Arab minority, most of whom identify as Palestinian, and the party takes a pragmatic approach by participating in elections.

Hadash-Ta'al, led by Yousef Jabareen, is a far-left list with five seats, made up of the Arab-Jewish communist party Hadash and the Arab nationalist party Ta'al. It aims to defend Israel's Arab minority and supports a two-state solution. Ahmad Tibi, one of its best-known figures, has served in parliament since the 1990s.

Other lists are not expected to reach the electoral threshold according to the latest polls. AFP identified them as including Benny Gantz's Blue and White party, a reservists' list led by former right-wing minister Yoaz Hendel, and the secular Arab list Balad.