Israel's former Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is planning a return to the premiership as the country holds an unprecedented fifth election in less than four years.
The right-wing Likud leader's main rival for the premiership is current Prime Minister Yair Lapid, of the centrist Yesh Atid party.
Netanyahu, who is currently on trial for alleged corruption, fraud and breach of trust, is likely to rely on extreme right-wing and racist parties in his attempt to form a government, while Lapid is expected to try to assemble parties from across the political spectrum who share little in common other than their feelings of hostility toward Netanyahu.
Polling suggests that both blocs of parties will fall close to, but most likely just short of, the 61 seats needed to form a parliamentary majority in the 120-seat Knesset, the country's parliament. If no government is formed, another election will likely be held early next year, leaving Lapid as caretaker Prime Minister until then.
Breaking the deadlock
Israel has been in political deadlock for the last four years, with no government able to cobble together a majority in the Knesset for any extended period of time.
Two elections in 2019 resulted in no clear winner — and left Netanyahu in charge as Prime Minister — while an election in 2020 led to the brief establishment of a "unity coalition" between Netanyahu and his then-main rival Benny Gantz, which fell apart before it was able to set a national budget.
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This led to the fourth election in 2021, in which Netanyahu was finally ousted as Prime Minister after an usual coalition or 'government of change' co-led by conservative politician Naftali Bennett and Lapid was pieced together from across the political spectrum. The coalition included, for the first time in Israel's history, a religious Arab Muslim party as well as right-wing, center and leftist Jewish parties.
After this coalition, too, collapsed in June this year, Bennett resigned as Prime Minister, ceding power to Lapid, and called for an early election.
