Israeli opposition leader wins Yesh Atid party's 1st-ever primary

JERUSALEM

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid was reelected Thursday as chairman of the Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party in its first primary since its establishment.

Lapid won 52.5% of the votes, defeating his challenger Ram Ben Barak by 29 votes, with Ben Barak garnering 47.5%. A total of 720 party members cast their votes in Tel Aviv.

Lapid, who founded the party in 2012, gained 24 party members in the 120-member Knesset, Israel's parliament, in the last general elections in 2022, making the party the second largest in the Knesset after the Likud Party headed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Lapid is a staunch critic of Netanyahu and continues to pressure him to step down amid the war in Gaza and along the Lebanon-Israel border.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar