This is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 10th election campaign for the premiership since 1996, but it will be the first time in which Netanyahu is competing against himself.

At least five party heads are in a race for the premiership in elections that will take place on March 23. But none of the five has succeeded in positioning himself as a leading alternative to Netanyahu.

According to recent polls, Netanyahu is getting stronger with about 30 mandates in his pocket. The next party in line is New Hope, headed by former high-level Likud member Gideon Saar; the polls allocate about 16 mandates to him. Under Saar is opposition chairman Yair Lapid and Yamina chairman Naftali Bennett, each group with only a small number of mandates. Netanyahu leads all of these by a significant margin, regarding the ability to govern the country as prime minister.

Like the mythical phoenix, Netanyahu rose above the others in the last two weeks, courtesy of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine project that he leads. Israel has crossed the 2 million-people vaccination bar (with a first dose) and is viewed as achieving a world record. However, COVID-19 has its own ways of surprising people. Just when Netanyahu and Israel’s public started to see the light at the end of the tunnel and Netanyahu announced in a leaked private conversation that “COVID-19 is finished,” the third wave began with great intensity.