For several weeks now, the ruling Likud party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been stagnating in the polls. Although the Likud is still by far the biggest party with the widest lead in the polls, and the public persistently pegs Netanyahu as the candidate best suited to be prime minister, his victory in the March 23 elections is far from assured.
Stranger still is the fact that not a single poll points to a clear winner who could replace Israel’s longest-serving premier. At least three candidates stand a chance, at least theoretically: opposition chair and head of the Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid; former Likud stalwart Gideon Saar, who recently formed the New Hope party; and former Defense Minister and Chair of the Yamina party Naftali Bennett.
