JERUSALEM, November 5 (Aalimi Nation) – Israeli President Isaac Herzog has begun consultations with party leaders on who should be asked to form the next government, after accepting the certified results of the 27 October parliamentary election. Early recommendations point to a close contest between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot.
Herzog opens Israel coalition talks
The meetings began on Wednesday evening at the President's Residence in Jerusalem and are due to resume on Thursday, with Likud and Eisenkot's Yashar scheduled to speak last. Under Israeli law, the president must choose the member of the Knesset he considers most likely to assemble a governing majority, who is not necessarily the leader of the largest party.
Neither camp won the 61 seats needed in the 120-member Knesset. Netanyahu's bloc secured 53 seats and Eisenkot's bloc 48, according to the figures reported after the count. Arab-led parties made record gains, winning 19 seats between them, with the Joint List holding 11.
Who recommended whom
Religious Zionism and Shas recommended that Netanyahu be given the first opportunity, as did the lone Zehut lawmaker, Moshe Feiglin, who said "a dark cloud hangs over the very legitimacy of these elections". Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu, Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad and Yair Golan's Democrats backed Eisenkot.
Ra'am, the Arab-led party headed by Mansour Abbas, said it would recommend Eisenkot. With that, Eisenkot was expected to collect at least 56 recommendations against 53 for Netanyahu, according to reports. The Joint List had not announced its position on Wednesday night, though one of its lawmakers said it was likely to back Eisenkot when it meets Herzog.
Degel HaTorah, which holds four of the seven seats of United Torah Judaism, said it would recommend neither candidate. The party had broken with Netanyahu over the failure to pass legislation exempting ultra-Orthodox men from military service. The remaining three lawmakers in the alliance had not said how they would proceed.
Fraud claims and Herzog's appeal
The talks follow weeks of claims by Netanyahu and his supporters, made without evidence, that the election was stolen by Arab-led parties, possibly with foreign help. The Central Elections Committee, headed by Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, said it found "no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results." Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara rejected a request to question elected Arab lawmakers, saying officials cannot be interrogated without evidence that justifies it.
Herzog said the investigation into suspected interference should go on, but he warned against smearing Arab citizens, who make up about 20 per cent of the population. "The elections are over. Now is the time to face reality," he said, urging both sides to compromise because "not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled".
Herzog is expected to announce his choice within several days. The nominee will then have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. One report said Eisenkot, if chosen, would face resistance within his own camp to relying on both Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties.
Possible outcomes include a coalition led by Eisenkot with support from some Arab-led parties, or a unity arrangement involving Netanyahu. If neither succeeds, Israel would head to another election early next year.
