Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israelis head to the polls on Tuesday for a general election in which they will vote for a new Prime Minister.

Current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu who is running for his fifth term in office is fighting for his political survival as he is facing two challenges namely: serious corruption charges (pending a final hearing with the country’s Attorney General ) and his toughest competitor in years, Benny Gantz.

Gantz, a former Chief of Staff of the Israeli military  can rival Mr. Netanyahu on security, which is one of the election’s key issues. Gantz has also promised cleaner politics.

Interestingly, Israeli voters tend to decide who to support on the basis of the candidates’ personalities rather than their policies and whether they consider them strong leaders.

No single party in Israel has ever won an absolute majority of seats in parliament. That means the Prime Minister is not always the person whose party wins the most votes but the person who manages to bring together enough parties to control at least 61 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.

Some polls suggest that Netanyahu is more likely to be able to form a coalition than  Gantz because of the Prime Minister’s close relationship with other right-wing parties and religious parties as well.

If re-elected, Netanyahu will in July, overtake Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion as the country’s longest-serving prime minister.