Leader of the Opposition

The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest party not in government in a Westminster System of parliamentary government. The Leader of the Opposition is seen as the alternative Prime Minister, Premier or Chief Minister to the incumbent and heads a rival alternative government known as the Shadow Cabinet or Opposition Front Bench.

In many Commonwealth realms the full title is Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

Specific instances

Leader of the Opposition (Israel)

The Leader of the Opposition (Hebrew: יוֹשֵׁב רֹאשׁ הַאוֹפּוֹזִיצְיָה, Yoshev Rosh Ha-Opozitzya) is the politician who leads the Official Opposition in the Israeli legislative body, the Knesset.

Until 2000

Until 2000, the role of the Opposition Leader was not an official position, but rather an honorary role. The Leader of the Opposition used to be the leader of the largest party not within the government, which was also the second largest party in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, either Likud Party or Israeli Labor Party, in all their versions. However, the party leading the coalition had never won the majority in the Knesset, but rather maintained it through a majority coalition building process within the Knesset. Over half a century (except for two occasions), either the Likud party or the Labor party, in all their versions, had formed the government (i.e. the Cabinet), without the other rival party joining the government, and thus except for these two occasions, wherein 1967–1970, Golda Meir and Levi Eshkol, and in 1984–1990, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir had formed a National Unity Government, consisting of the two major rival parties, the Opposition Leader had always been the chairman of either the Likud party or the chairman of Labor, and it is commonly said that during that period, wherein the two major rivals parties were joined by a unity government, there were practically no opposition in the Knesset.