A look at key parties in Israel’s Oct. 27 election seen as a referendum on Netanyahu

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis vote on Oct. 27 in an election viewed as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the deadliest attack on Israel since its founding and the three years of wars that followed.

Israelis vote for parties, not single candidates. The parties then form alliances to create a majority coalition. In the country’s 78-year history, no single party has won a majority in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset.

That gives small parties outsized power in the quest to cobble together at least 61 seats. Parties must capture at least 3.25% of the vote to make it into the Knesset.

Netanyahu is Israel’s longest serving prime minister, holding onto power for more than 18 years over three separate tenures. Israel has no term limits. His opponents are urging voters to deny him another premiership , arguing that Netanyahu’s failures led to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and that he has evaded responsibility.

Here are the major parties:

Likud (Unification) is Israel’s major right-wing party. It appeals to working-class and traditionally Jewish voters, and won nearly a quarter of the vote in the last election in 2022. To form a governing coalition, Netanyahu partnered Likud with far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties , creating one of the most right-wing governments in decades. The party’s ideology combines nationalism with liberal economic policies.

The far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) had a strong showing in the last elections, capturing 14 seats after joining with the Religious Zionist Party and the far-right Noam faction. Its leader, hard-liner Itamar Ben-Gvir, became national security minister, overseeing the police. An ultranationalist politician , Ben-Gvir had been arrested multiple times for incitement and supporting terrorism.

Shas (acronym for Sephardic Guardians) is an ultra-Orthodox party largely of Jews with roots in North Africa and the Middle East. They have long faced discrimination in Israeli society. In 2023, the Supreme Court barred party leader Aryeh Deri , who was convicted of tax offenses, from holding a Cabinet position. The party supports normalization with Arab states and won 11 seats in 2022.

United Torah Judaism is an alliance of two ultra-Orthodox parties focused largely on social services for their community. Along with Shas, party members are angry at Netanyahu for failing to pass a law that would guarantee military service exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox.

The far-right Religious Zionist Party supports an aggressive security policy, increasing settlements and solidifying Israeli control over the occupied West Bank. Party leader Bezalel Smotrich, the current finance minister, has overseen massive state spending on settlement initiatives. The party joined with farther-right Zehut (Identity) but is struggling to pass the threshold.

Amcha Yisrael (Your Nation of Israel) was established in August by retired general Ofer Winter and has been the right’s biggest surprise this election. But after an initial surge, the party, meant to provide an alternative for Netanyahu supporters frustrated with his handling of the wars, is now struggling to meet the minimum threshold.

Yashar! (Straight) is a new, popular centrist party. Led by Netanyahu's chief rival, Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief whose son was killed fighting in Gaza, Yashar! has championed equal service in the military. The party is focused on issues within Israel including the cost of living, education and a state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 attack.

Beyachad (Together) combines the parties of politicians Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. Bennett, the party's leader, is religiously observant but socially liberal and positions himself as part of the “new right” focused on rebuilding trust in Israel's establishment. Lapid's party, Yesh Atid (There is a Future), won 24 seats in 2022, making it the largest in the opposition.

The Democrats was founded in 2024 as an attempt to rebrand some of Israel’s struggling leftist parties. It merged with the center-left Labor party, which ruled Israel for its first two decades, and the far-left Meretz. Party leader Yair Golan supports bringing Israel's Arab-led parties into the coalition.

Yisrael Beyteinu (Israel Our Home) was founded primarily to appeal to immigrants from the former Soviet Union, with right-wing positions on foreign policy, security and the economy, and more left-wing positions on social issues. The party has previously run with Likud, but leader Avigdor Liberman has recently said he will not join a coalition with the prime minister “even if the world turns upside down.”

A new center-right party, Reservists-Economic is focused on eliminating military exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men and improving the cost of living, but is hovering around the minimum threshold to enter the Knesset. Leader Yoaz Hendel positioned his party as “the third bloc” advocating for a unity Netanyahu-Eisenkot government without ultra-Orthodox or Arab parties.

Palestinian citizens of Israel make up about 20% of the population but have low voter turnout due to discrimination and disillusionment. Netanyahu and his main opponents have said they will not sit in a coalition with Arab partners, fearing that a potential alliance would alienate right-wing voters. But if the vote is close, they may ultimately compromise, giving Arab parties the chance to play a decisive role in choosing the next prime minister.

Ra’am (acronym for United Arab List), an Islamist conservative party led by Mansour Abbas , is considered the more moderate of the Arab-led parties in Israel. It supports the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, but has also focused on local issues such as crime and the economy. In 2021, Ra'am won five seats and was the first Arab-led party to join a governing coalition. Abbas has declined to join a separate joint list of Arab parties and appointed Yoav Segalovitz, a Jewish politician and former police commissioner, as his deputy.

The Joint List combines three major Arab parties: Ta’al (acronym for Arab Movement for Renewal), Hadash (New), a Jewish-Arab party that dates back to 1977, and Balad (acronym for National Democratic Alliance). Hadash-Ta'al received five seats in the last election. The Joint List opposes the war in Gaza and Israel's occupation of the West Bank. It also opposes Israeli laws defining the nation’s character as Jewish, lowering its chances of being part of any coalition.