Ex-TV anchor Yair Lapid named Israeli finance minister

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - A former TV anchor whose upstart political party was the biggest surprise in Israel's January election was named finance minister on Friday as a coalition deal was signed, his spokesman said.

Yair Lapid's centrist Yesh Atid party, which champions bread-and-butter issues of the Israeli middle-class, won 19 of parliament's 120 seats, second after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud-Beiteinu alliance's 31 seats.