JERUSALEM - Votes will be cast on Tuesday for parties, and seats in parliament will be allocated to individuals on party lists according to proportional representation, Reuters reported in a factbox on the leading candidates in Israel's election, published on Monday. It is Israel's first parliamentary election since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 that plunged the Middle East into turmoil, with Israel going to war in Lebanon and Gaza and launching airstrikes against Iran.

Source: Reuters Factbox, Oct 26, by Maayan Lubell, via WNCY

77Age of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been in power for much of the time since 2009 (Reuters)
66Age of former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, head of the new centrist party Yashar (Reuters)
20%Share of Israel's population represented by the Arab-minority parties Raam and the Joint List, potential key players (Reuters)

Netanyahu, 77, has long looked on course to lose power, but the race has narrowed as the vote approaches and his rivals have no clear path to power, Reuters reported. Supporters hail him as 'King Bibi' and see him as the strong leader Israel needs, the factbox said, but he is wanted by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Gaza, which he rejects, and is on trial in Israel on corruption charges, which he denies. He has said he wants to form a 'broad national' government if he wins, and in the event of a stalemate he could remain caretaker prime minister for many months.

Source: Reuters Factbox, Oct 26, via WNCY

Netanyahu's top rivals

Former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, 66, who lost a son in Gaza combat, heads a new centrist party called Yashar, Hebrew for 'straight' or 'honest', and has projected an image as a political outsider, soldier and security hawk, Reuters reported. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, 54, a right-wing former commando and former Netanyahu aide, has joined forces with centrist former premier Yair Lapid in a new party called Together, focused on healing a traumatised nation; their alliance ousted Netanyahu in a 2021 election. Former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, 68, quit Netanyahu's government in 2018 accusing him of being too soft on Palestinian militants in Gaza, and his Israel Our Home party draws much of its support from the ex-Soviet immigrant community. Former general Yair Golan, 64, leads the Democrats, founded on the remnants of Israel's historical Labour party and smaller left-wing Meretz.

Source: Reuters Factbox, Oct 26, via WNCY

A separate explainer of the challengers, published by The Daily, put the rival polls in sharp contrast: a Channel 12 survey projected 23 seats for Eisenkot's Yashar against 20 for Likud, while a Channel 14 survey, described as pro-Netanyahu, projected 30 seats for Likud and 20 for Eisenkot. Those figures are separate opinion polls, not results. The same explainer said Bennett's party agreed in April 2026 to merge with Lapid's Yesh Atid, registering under the name Beyachad, and that its priorities include reforming military conscription to bring ultra-Orthodox groups into service and reducing the cost of living.

Source: The Daily, Oct 26, Israel Election 2026 challengers explainer

Allies and potential kingmakers

On Netanyahu's side, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, 46, has spearheaded Israel's rapid expansion of West Bank settlements, voicing his hope that it would 'bury' the idea of a Palestinian state, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, 50, was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against Arabs and has promoted capital punishment for convicted Palestinian militants, Reuters reported. Both men have advocated for the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and Israel resettling the enclave, the factbox said. Netanyahu has also relied for years on two ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, whose demands for their community to be mostly exempt from compulsory military service have angered many Israelis at a time of war.

Source: Reuters Factbox, Oct 26, via WNCY

Parties not clearly aligned with either side could tip the balance, Reuters reported: Raam and the Joint List, the two parties that represent Israel's 20% Arab minority, along with a new right-wing party called People of Israel and a centre-right party called The Reservists, both wavering in opinion polls. The outcome will therefore depend not only on each party's seat count but also on its ability to negotiate a coalition, The Daily's explainer noted.

Source: The Daily, Oct 26