Interactive guide: the parties running in Israel's repeat election on September 17

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Israelis are set to go to polls to elect the members of the next Knesset on April 9, 2019.

On this page, the JC looks at the main contender parties that could form next Israel's next coalition government.

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Labour

Projection: 5 seats

Combines: Labour, Gesher

Squeezed by the Blue & White alliance in the battle for centrist-minded voters, Labour’s showing in the April election was nothing short of disastrous. Israel’s Grand Old Party won just six seats in the April election, prompting leader Avi Gabbay to resign. He was replaced by former leader Amir Peretz (pictured left). In the hope of broadening Labour’s appeal, he has linked up with the Orly Levi-Abekasis (right), whose Gesher party failed to win any seats.

Blue & White

Projection: 32 seats

Combines: Israel Resilience, Yesh Atid, Telem

Benny Gantz (left), the former IDF chief of staff, has been in politics for less than nine months but remains the main candidate to replace Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s PM. His alliance, which joins forces with two other former IDF generals, Moshe Yaalon and Gabi Ashkenazi, and the centrist Yesh Atid party of Yair Lapid (pictured right) is on course to be the second-largest Knesset bloc again, but government seems to be a long shot.

Likud

Projection: 33 seats

It is because Benjamin Netanyahu could not countenance the idea of another party leader attempting to form a government after April’s indecisive election that Israeli voters must trudge to their polling stations again on September 17, yet Likud still leads the polls. An imminent court appearance for the PM on bribery and corruption charges means there is every reason to believe this could be Bibi’s final term — but Israeli politics has a golden rule: never write Bibi off.

Yamina

Projection: 8 seats

Combines: Jewish Home, New Right, Tkuma

Late last year, Ayelet Shaked (pictured right) and Naftali Bennett walked out of the Jewish Home party to create a right-wing alternative to Likud. New Right, the resulting faction, fell short of the election threshold and won precisely no seats, prompting its leaders to backtrack. Ms Shaked now leads the United Right List with alongside Jewish Home’s new leader, Rafi Peretz (left). A Knesset return appears certain.

Yisrael Beiteinu

Projection: 8 seats

Few believed Avigdor Lieberman when he said he would not compromise on efforts to water down his plan for more Strictly Orthodox draftees into the IDF — but he meant it. He deprived Benjamin Netanyahu of a Knesset majority and now says he will not serve under him after the next election either, which played well with his voters, many of whom are migrants from the former Soviet Union. His party may double the seats it won in April and become a powerful kingmaker.

Arab parties

Projection: 11 seats

Combines: Balad, Hadash, Ta’al, United Arab List

Israel’s four main Arab parties represent a range of views from socialism to Islamism. Their decision to run as a Joint List in 2015 was amply rewarded by Israel’s electoral system as the alliance became the third largest Knesset bloc. The alliance led by Aymen Odeh (above) broke up this year in a dispute over the order of candidates, but that resulted in Arab parties winning fewer seats overall — so this time, the Joint List is back.

Democratic Union

Projection: 5 seats

Former PM Ehud Barak’s return to politics comes in a new alliance that includes the left-wing Meretz party and Stav Shaffir (pictured right), who broke away from Labour. But Mr Barak (left), marred by connections to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is in tenth place on the slate — meaning he may not actually win a seat.

Jewish Power

Projection: 0 seats

Known in Hebrew as Otzma Yehudit, this is a party composed of supporters of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, which detractors say is a racist, Jewish supremacist movement. It is running alone in this election rather than as part of the United Right List, which could mean it is far less likely to win seats this time — but the party has been polling strongly, so a surprise cannot be ruled out.

Shas

Projection: 7 seats

A Strictly Orthodox party that has been in governing coalitions led either by Likud or Labour for most of the past 30 years. Leader Aryeh Deri's photograph appears alongside that of Mr Netanyahu's in campaign posters around Israel and it's very likely the party will sit alongside Likud once again.

United Torah Judaism

Projection: 8 seats

Combines: Degel HaTorah, Agudat Israel

This alliance of two Askhenazi Charedi parties in the Knesset is running again after talks for a joint list with Shas proved fruitless. Police recently announced they want to indict one of its leaders, Yaakov Litzman (pictured).