Although incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may continue to reign Israel, his victory in Tuesday's elections was outshone by Yair Lapid, a dark horse who led a party of political newcomers, Yesh Atid, to an unexpected outcome of 19 out of 120 seats in the Knesset parliament.

Lapid, who'll celebrate his 50th birthday this year, is a veteran in the Israeli culture and media area, with a career spanning for nearly 35 years.

He wrote books and plays, had his own column on the weekend edition of the popular Yedioth Aharonot daily, and served both as a TV host, including of a prime-time Saturday night news broadcast, and an actor.

Lapid became a household name in recent years as a mainstream persona. He hosted the main Israeli Memorial Day ceremony in Tel Aviv and starred as a presenter at a bank campaign, for which he is expected to he earned 220,000 U.S. dollars.

The switch into politics was not something new to Lapid, the son of late politician Yossef (Tomy) Lapid.

When the rumors of Lapid's possible run for politics made its way into Israeli politics, lawmakers embarked on legislation for a "cooling off" period of six months for media broadcasters and journalists with political aspirations.

Lapid established Yesh Atid (There is a future) in April 2012. He took it upon himself to decide his own roster for the party and did not hold internal elections to rate the candidates within its ranks, for which he took heat from politicians and journalists.

He also said he'll head the party in the coming years without having internal elections for the chairman's position.

As for his platform, Lapid and his party appeal to the middle class, demanding a change in the share of the burden within the Israeli society. "Where is the money?" become a slogan affiliated with Lapid.

Also, he is trying to tackle the orthodox community, advocating making a law to replace the expired Tal Law, which gave young Orthodox students an exemption from military service.

He was not identified as left or right-wing, just focused on issues at the heart of most Israelis: improving education and fighting public corruption, which have been pushed back amid diplomatic and security concerns.

"A lot of people gave up on politics and stopped believing in the country's leaders," Eyal Volkovich, 25, a former journalist who joined Yesh Atid, told Xinhua on Wednesday. "But when Yair Lapid formed his party and promised a change, I read his agenda and it spoke to me."

Volkovich says he is aware that like other politicians Lapid could disappoint him, but he sees in him an opportunity to change the political sphere.

Noa Holtz, 28, who voted for Lapid, said "I chose him because I relate to his political substrate and he will fight the extreme religious people in the next Knesset and work for an equal distribution of the load."

There are a lot of speculation as to where Lapid's accomplishment may lead him and the Israeli politics into. What seems certain, though, is that overnight a new star is shining in the Israeli political sky. Endi

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