Israel's president will announce the name of the candidate for prime minister on November 8
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will announce on November 8 the name of the politician who will be tasked with forming a new ruling coalition.
He set this deadline after consultations with representatives of all the parties that entered the Knesset (parliament) following the October 27 elections.
In a short statement, Herzog noted that the overwhelming majority of recommendations went to the leader of the main opposition party "Yashar," Gadi Eisenkot, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the Likud party, which took first place in the number of votes in the elections. The advantage remained with Eisenkot: his candidacy was supported by 67 of the 120 deputies, while 46 spoke in favor of Netanyahu. Another seven deputies abstained.
"The results of the consultations may seem obvious, but the powers with which I am vested by law require determining who is capable of forming a government, and this is not entirely clear, given the mutual obstacles between the blocs and within the blocs. I will try to clarify this directly and quickly in personal conversations with some of the party leaders. I intend to task one of the members of the Knesset with forming a government this coming Sunday," the president stated.
On October 27, parliamentary elections were held in Israel, in which the Likud party led by Netanyahu took first place with 27 seats, but neither bloc received the majority of 61 seats needed to form a new coalition. Likud and its allies have 53 seats, the opposition parties have a total of 48, and another 19 went to the Arab parties, which in consultations with Herzog supported Eisenkot's candidacy in order to prevent Netanyahu from remaining in power.
At the same time, neither the current coalition nor the opposition is ready to enter into an alliance with the Arabs. The opposition bloc insists on the conscription of the Orthodox into the army, which is why it cannot enter into an alliance with the religious parties, for which deferment from service in the armed forces is a matter of principle. Thus, at the moment no political force can guarantee the formation of a solid majority of 61 deputies in the 120-seat Knesset.
Negotiations on forming a ruling coalition will begin after Herzog announces on November 8 the name of the deputy entrusted with this task. The first candidate for prime minister will be given 28 days to form a government, with the possibility of extending this period by two weeks. In case of failure, the president will transfer this right to another deputy, who will be allotted two weeks to solve the task without the possibility of an extension. If none of the candidates is able to form a stable coalition, then after 90 days new elections will be called. Netanyahu will continue to head the Israeli government until the new cabinet is sworn in.
