Yair Lapid will become Israel’s interim prime minister on Friday after parliament disbanded ahead of the new elections. Mr. Lapid is the leader of a centrist party and will take over at midnight from Naftali Bennett. The two had agreed to rotate office after last year’s election when they had formed an eight-party coalition which collapsed last week. The collapse of their coalition led the way for new elections, the fifth in less than four years.
Israel’s parliament is very divided and even the bill to dissolve the parliament was delayed repeatedly. The new round of elections will be held on November 1. Israel continues to have cycles of elections because parties fail to secure enough seats to form a majority governing coalition. The next round of elections creates an opening for Benjamin Netanyahu to return to office, despite being on trial for corruption charges. Mr Netanyahu was ousted from the the prime minister position by Mr Bennett and Mr Lapid last June. Mr Bennett has announced he will not be running in the November elections.
Read more: Israel to get new PM as Netanyahu targets comeback
