Yesh Atid
Yesh Atid
Founded in 2012
Yesh Atid is a centrist party that was established ahead of the 2013 elections at the initiative of journalist and media personality Yair Lapid. The new party was the main surprise of those elections after it managed to win 19 seats, making it the second largest faction in the Knesset.
In the following elections, its parliamentary standing was reduced to 11 seats. Ahead of the elections for the 21st Knesset, the party agreed to join forces with Israel Resilience and Telem as part of the Blue and White electoral list, with Yair Lapid in second place on the list. Cooperation as part of Blue and White continued in the next two elections, but after the 2020 elections, following Benny Gantz’s decision to enter a unity government with the Likud under Benjamin Netanyahu, Blue and White split and Yesh Atid chose to remain in the opposition. In the 2021 elections, Yesh Atid ran independently again. It won 17 seats, and Lapid was the driving force behind the formation of the 36th government (the “change government”) that brought an end to Netanyahu’s 12 consecutive years in office. In early July 2022, with the decision to dissolve the 24th Knesset and hold early elections, Lapid became the 14th prime minister of the State of Israel, a position he held for around six months. After the 2022 elections, Yesh Atid became the largest opposition party with 24 seats in the Knesset.
Yesh Atid positions itself as a centrist liberal party and its platform focuses largely on social and civic issues and governance, and less on defense and foreign affairs. Among other things, the party advocates an equal sharing of the burden of military service, emphasizes the advancement of education, and calls for a reduction in the size of the government and a limit of two terms of service for prime ministers.
| Election Year | Votes Count | Number Of Seats | Share Of Votes | List Of Candidates | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 847,435 | 24 | 17.8 |
Candidates
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| 2021 | 614,112 | 17 | 13.9 |
Candidates
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| 2015 | 371,602 | 11 | 8.8 |
Candidates
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Platform
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| 2013 | 543,458 | 19 | 14.3 |
Candidates
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Platform
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Yair Lapid, Shay Piron, Yael German, Orna Barbivai
Yesh Atid was the senior coalition partner in Benjamin Netanyahu’s third government, which took office in March 2013. Five ministries were given to representatives of this party: Finance (Yair Lapid), Education (Shay Piron), Health (Yael German), Welfare (Meir Cohen), and Science (Yaakov Peri). In early December 2014, Prime Minister Netanyahu fired Finance Minister Yair Lapid. Soon after, the rest of the ministers of Yesh Atid resigned their posts. Yesh Atid remained in opposition until June 2021. Following the 2021 elections it formed a coalition with seven other parties. The so-called Bennett-Lapid government held power for 18 months, while Yair Lapid served as prime minister from July to December 2022. Other Yesh Atid ministers included Orna Barbivai (Economy) and Karine Elharrar (Energy).