Mr Lapid, who could take over after Mr Bennett’s two years at the helm, and his Yesh Atid party are more moderate than the ultra-nationalist Bennett and his Yamina party.
Mr Lapid is a former TV news anchor popular with the country’s secular middle class, who has been deep in negotiations to form a government.
If he can get an assortment of other parties to agree in the next three days – which is still not guaranteed – he could inform the country’s president, Reuven Rivlin, that he believes he can form a government, which would then go to parliament, the Knesset, for a vote.
The swearing-in of the new government, and with it Netanyahu’s relinquishing of high office, could happen within a week.
