Lapid’s centrist slate is polling higher than any other within the bloc opposing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Monday, Meretz chairman Nitzan Horowitz became the first party leader to openly declare that he would recommend Lapid as premier.
“I see him as the head of the largest party in our bloc with the best chance form a government. We will be part of the government with him [at the helm],” Horowitz told the Ynet news site.
After the elections, the head of each party that makes it into the 120-member Knesset is invited by the president to recommend their preferred choice of prime minister. The president then makes a selection, based on these recommendations, of who is best-placed to form and lead a governing coalition, normally a candidate recommended by at least 61 lawmakers.
The public declaration appears to be part of a strategy to stop voters from shifting their support to Yesh Atid, as is often the case in election home stretches where many prefer to back the largest party in their preferred bloc.
Lapid still faces an uphill battle, polling at roughly 20 seats compared to Likud’s nearly 30. Even if the anti-Netanyahu bloc wins a majority of seats, the Yesh Atid chairman will face a difficult time convincing parties as left-wing as Meretz and as right-wing as Naftali Bennett’s Yamina to sit in the same coalition.
After refraining from saying so outright last week, Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz told Channel 12 news on Monday that he was in fact prepared to back Lapid as prime minister. However, he qualified the statement, saying he would back any candidate who was able to prove after the election that he has enough support to form a coalition that will replace Netanyahu — be it Lapid, Yamina chair Naftali Bennett or New Hope’s Gideon Sa’ar.
Sa’ar has dropped to fourth place in recent polls, which see him receiving as few as nine seats. Nonetheless, he told Channel 12 on Tuesday that he still sees himself as a candidate for prime minister and that he will form the next government if the pro-Netanyahu bloc does not receive a majority of at least 61 seats in the March 23 vote.
