Leader of the right-wing Likud coalition from 1993 to 1999, he narrowly defeated Shimon Peres in the elections of 1996. His attempts to maintain the impetus of the Middle-East peace process met with a number of obstacles and he was defeated by the Labour leader, Ehud Barak, in the general election of 1999. He resumed the leadership of Likud in 2005 and again became Prime Minister following the 2009 election. At the end of 2014, Netanyahu dismissed the leaders of two coalition parties from government, prompting a general election in March 2015, in which he came from behind to win. He was replaced by Naftali Bennett leading a coalition of parties in June 2021. Netanyahu remains head of the Likud party and become leader of the opposition.