A member of the Labor party said on Tuesday that the political faction will back Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid for prime minister after the country's upcoming March 23 elections.
“We will recommend Yair Lapid… we think he can lead a coalition,” said Nachman Shai, a former lawmaker and Labor's number eight. “For us, [Lapid] is the head of the bloc.”
Lapid, leader of the centrist bloc and the current head of opposition, has been polling higher than most other opposition candidates across the political spectrum and is projected to win between 18 and 20 seats in the 24th Knesset.
Shai's announcement comes a day after the left-wing Meretz party made a similar announcement in support of Lapid for prime minister.
“I see him as the head of the largest party in our bloc with the best chance to form a government," Meretz Chairman Nitzan Horowitz told Ynet on Monday. "We will be part of the government with him [at the helm].
The Meretz party has struggled to make inroads with voters in this latest election round and has been hovering around the electoral threshold of 3.25% in major polls in the run-up to the vote.
“A strategic vote is to vote for Meretz in order to prevent Netanyahu from forming a narrow right-wing government," Horowitz added.
Parties that meet the electoral threshold automatically win four seats in the Knesset. The March 23 election will mark Israel's fourth election in just over two years.