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Yair Golan

Yair Golan

Yair Golan (born 1962) is an Israeli politician and retired Major General who leads The Democrats, formed by the merger of Labor and Meretz in 2024.

Born
1962 (64 years), Rishon LeZion
Party
The Democrats
Education
Tel Aviv University
Website
yairgolan.org.il
Political position

Centre-left · Where sources place the party (The Democrats)
Wikipedia: centre-left to left-wing (The Democrats)
Ideology: social democracy, liberal Zionism

<1%Probability · Prime Minister of Israel after the election?

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He served in the Israel Defense Forces from 1980 to 2018, rising to Deputy Chief of Staff, was a Knesset member in 2019-2022 and Deputy Minister of Economy in 2021-2022. He is the party's candidate for Prime Minister in the 2026 election.

Career

Born in Rishon LeZion, Golan served in the IDF from 1980 to 2018 and again in 2023, as commander of Northern Command and Deputy Chief of Staff among other posts. He sat in the Knesset in 2019-2022 for the Democratic Union and Meretz and was Deputy Minister of Economy in 2021-2022. He won the Labor leadership in May 2024 and has led The Democrats since July 2024.

Offices held
  1. Deputy Minister of the Economy and Industry 2021–2022
  2. Knesset member 2019–2022

Source: Wikidata

Positions

Wikipedia describes Golan as a leftist Zionist who supports a two-state solution, secular governance and LGBTQ+ rights, and who backed civil disobedience against the judicial overhaul.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia · Wikipedia

Photo: Shlomi Amsalem, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

  1. Yair Golan <1%
100%50%0%

Nov 2025Apr 2026Oct 2026

Prime Minister of Israel after the election?

OutcomeLeft – RightAgeProbability
Gadi EizenkotCentre6647%
Benjamin NetanyahuRight7636%
Naftali BennettRight549%
Avigdor LiebermanRight682%
Ofer Winter551%
Itamar Ben GvirFar right501%
Yair LapidCentre62<1%
Yossi Cohen65<1%
Yoaz HendelCentre-right51<1%
Yair GolanCentre-left64<1%
Ayelet ShakedRight50<1%
Benny GantzCentre67<1%

All 19 outcomes

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