Yair Lapid burst onto the political stage in Israel in a big way as the surprise result of an election, the outcome of which, as it turns out, was somewhat wrongly predicted. Already well-known in Israel as a TV personality, though unknown abroad, Mr Lapid emerged as kingmaker - a role which observers had unanimously expected to go to another new face, right-wing ultra-nationalist Naftali Bennett. Mr Lapid's Yesh Atid (There is a Future) exceeded expectations, winning 19 seats - a third more than had been predicted - and becoming the second-largest party in the Knesset (parliament). It was a stunning result for a party which Mr Lapid had founded only nine months earlier. Talk-show host Born in cosmopolitan Tel Aviv in 1963, Yair Lapid followed in the footsteps of his father, Tommy, another a famous journalist-turned-politician. Ten years ago, Tommy achieved an electoral breakthrough for the staunchly secular, liberal Shinui (Change) Party, when it became the third-largest party and joined then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition. The partnership did not last though and Shinui was dropped two years later. Like his father, Yair began his career in the media, as a military correspondent for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), before joining the centre-right Maariv newspaper, eventually becoming its editor. His journalistic skills and talent as an effective communicator drew him into television, and from the mid-1990s he established himself as a popular presenter, fronting a ...

• published: 23 Jan 2013
• author: Pavan kumar