Israel's opposition leaders agree to pick next prime minister only after election
Five Jewish opposition leaders met at Yair Lapid's home on Saturday evening and signed a joint declaration agreeing to decide their candidate for prime minister only after the election, and to refrain from attacking one another during the campaign.
The leaders of Israel’s Jewish opposition parties agreed on Saturday to decide their candidate to lead the next government only after the election, despite all recent polls showing Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party gaining the most seats.
The five leaders convened on Saturday evening at former prime minister Yair Lapid’s home in Tel Aviv for what was described as a “coordination meeting”, as recent polls showed their lead against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc narrowing, Haaretz reported.
The meeting was attended by Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot, Lapid’s Together party co-leader Naftali Bennett, Democrats chairman Yair Golan and Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman.
It followed recent bickering within the opposition. About a week ago Eisenkot said Bennett and Lieberman were hurting the bloc’s chances by failing to back his candidacy for prime minister, and he rejected any rotation agreement. Yashar averages 23 seats in recent polls, followed by Netanyahu’s Likud at 19 and Together at 12. Eisenkot also recently ruled out including Mansour Abbas’ United Arab List in a government he leads.
At the end of the meeting the five leaders issued a joint signed declaration pledging not to attack one another throughout the campaign. “These are critical elections. Although there are ideological disagreements between us, establishing a government of repair is our shared overriding goal, and it is our duty to work together to achieve it,” they wrote.
The declaration also commits the leaders to establish three joint working groups within 48 hours: one on voter turnout and election integrity, one to formulate the next government’s basic guidelines — including military conscription, a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attacks, a prime ministerial term limit, a constitution and a 100-day action plan — and a third on communications and fighting disinformation.
Sources
- Haaretz, “Opposition Leaders Agree to Decide Who Will Lead Next Government Only After Elections”, 27 September 2026
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