Liora Shapiro
The Honorable Liora Shapiro | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Prime Minister of Tikva | |
| Assumed office 2 October 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Jacob Lasker |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 19 August 2018 – 2 October 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Aron Leverson (Avoda) |
| Succeeded by | Samuel Rubinstein (Herut) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 October 1984 (age 40) Kanon, Tikva |
| Nationality | Tikvan |
| Political party | Tikvan Democratic Party |
| Alma mater | Harel University (B.A. Philosophy; M.S. Conflict Resolution) |
Liora Shapiro (Yebru: ליאורה שפירא) is currently Prime Minister of Tikva, leader of the Tikvan Democratic Party, and the nation's youngest leader and Knesset member.
She came to national prominence as one of the leaders of the 2013 social justice protests, focusing on housing, public services, income inequality, and democracy, and later became its spokeswoman of the movement. She was subsequently elected to the Knesset in 2013 as a member of the Avoda Party, running on a platform of improving Tikvan standard of living, social equity, and housing. She ran for reelection as a member of Avoda in 2015 and retained her seat and reelected again in the snap 2018 election. Avoda and their allies failed to break Lasker's coalition, and the leader of the Opposition at the time, Aron Levenson, stepped down. Shapiro assumed both roles immediately. She spent most of her time shining a light on the government's corruption, and its favoritism, and willingness to side with the far-right religious minority (including their calls for annexing the Samarran Valley).
When the Lev Party announced its withdrawal from Lasker's Government, the Government found itself without a majority and had no choice but to call another round of snap elections. Seeing an opportunity to significantly wound the political right, Shapiro formed the Tikvan Democratic Party (TDP) through the merger of every active left-wing political party in the country. Between unifying the base and running on a platform of peace in the Samarran Valley, social democracy, liberalism, environmentalism, and equality for all, the infant party won the most seats, 51 out of 120, in the October 2019 election. Although they did not win an outright majority, having to form a coalition with the more centrist Gesher Party, it was still a tremendous victory for the left -- it would be the first time since 1968 that the left had such influence in the parliament. With her majority, she intends to move Tikva back to its more secular and egalitarian roots, modified for the twenty-first century.