Party Profile: The Democrats (Yair Golan)

Who they are

The Democrats are the party of the Israeli center-left. They formed in 2024 when Labor and Meretz merged, and Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff of the IDF, took the lead. Golan is 64.

The list was set in a primary on 20 July. Turnout was 86%. Golan did not use any reserved slots.

On 24 Sept the Central Elections Committee rejected Otzma Yehudit's request to bar the party, 2-14, after coalition members boycotted the vote. The Democrats, the Zulat Institute and former senior officials had asked the committee to bar Otzma. It voted that down 19-10, with one abstention. The Democrats then petitioned the High Court against Otzma. The court dismissed the petition on 4 Oct on procedural grounds, without ruling on the merits.

The list: who is likely to get in

At 9.6 seats, the first nine or ten names are realistic. Slots 10 to 12 are on the edge. The order below is the final list.

Yair Golan (1). Party leader. A career officer who rose to deputy chief of staff, then moved into politics and led the Meretz and Labor merger. He is the party's main face and its most polarizing one. Opponents on the right have attacked him over past remarks, and he has stayed outspoken on Gaza, the settlements and the judicial overhaul.

Naama Lazimi (2). A sitting MK from the Labor side. She is known for social and labor issues.

Gilad Kariv (3). A Reform rabbi and sitting MK. He represents the religion and state agenda: civil marriage, equal status for non-Orthodox streams and a draft with no blanket exemptions.

Efrat Rayten (4). A veteran Labor figure and former minister. She brings governing experience and a welfare focus.

Yair Fink (5). A sitting MK, known as "Yaya". Part of the younger Labor group that survived the party's collapse in 2022.

Gaby Lasky (6). A human rights lawyer and former Meretz MK. She is a prominent voice on civil rights and the rule of law.

Omri Ronen (7). At 34, the youngest of the likely entrants. He gives the list a generational counterweight to Golan.

Michal Rozin (8). A former Meretz MK and a long-time voice on women's issues and welfare.

Moshe Radman (9). A social activist who came in through the primary. Detailed background is thin in the sources I could verify.

Sumaya Bashir (10). The highest-placed Arab Israeli candidate on the list. At 9.6 seats she is just inside.

Nimrod Shefer (11). At 65, one of the older names on the list. Spelling varies between sources (Shefer or Sheffer).

Others of note. Moran Zer Katzenstein (12), Avi Dabush (13), Emily Moatti (14) and Tomer Avital (15) come from the activist and civil society side. They only enter if the party beats its polls.

Note: bios for slots 5, 7, 9 and 12 to 15 are thin. Check the final list against the Central Elections Committee publication.

Platform and coalition plans

The Democrats say they will not sit with Likud or the Haredi parties. That makes their path to power narrow. They need the whole Zionist opposition to reach 61 seats, or they need Arab party support from outside or inside a coalition. That is the central tension in their campaign. See the election math article for how the camps add up.

Sources: Central Elections Committee decisions of 24 Sept; High Court ruling of 4 Oct; party primary results of 20 July; Israeli media poll tracking, 24 Sept to 7 Oct.