Guwahati: Gadi Eisenkot, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main political rival, secured the backing of a majority of lawmakers on Thursday to receive the mandate to form a government, but President Isaac Herzog said it remained unclear who could break the post-election deadlock.
Herzog said he would announce his choice of candidate on Sunday after holding consultations with political leaders over the weekend.
Israel’s October 27 election ended without a clear winner, leaving both Netanyahu and former military chief Eisenkot short of a parliamentary majority. The president, whose largely ceremonial office carries the responsibility of selecting the candidate most likely to form a governing coalition, held consultations with elected political factions on Wednesday and Thursday.
During the consultations, 67 of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers endorsed Eisenkot, while 46 backed Netanyahu.
However, Herzog cautioned that the numbers did not necessarily indicate who could successfully form a government, citing “mutual vetoes between the blocs and within the blocs themselves”.
The candidate chosen by Herzog will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. Netanyahu will continue as caretaker prime minister until a new coalition is formed. If no candidate succeeds, Israel will have to hold another election.
Netanyahu’s Likud emerged as the largest single party, winning 27 seats in the 120-member Knesset. However, his broader religious-nationalist bloc secured only 53 seats.
Eisenkot’s anti-Netanyahu coalition, comprising four parties ranging from the centre-left to the right, won 48 seats, despite pre-election surveys suggesting a close contest. Two parties representing Israel’s Arab minority secured a combined 19 seats, an unprecedented result.
In a setback for Netanyahu, the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, a longstanding ally and one of the two major parties representing ultra-Orthodox Jewish voters, declined on Thursday to recommend any candidate during its consultations with Herzog.
Both Arab-led parties endorsed Eisenkot, giving him the backing of 67 lawmakers. However, Eisenkot, like Netanyahu, has so far ruled out forming a government with the two Arab-led parties.
Netanyahu has also sought to cast doubt on the election results by highlighting an investigation by election officials into alleged vote tampering. He accused Arab-led parties of stealing votes, an allegation that critics say is an attempt to undermine the election outcome. Netanyahu has denied trying to do so.
Israel’s Central Election Committee said on Wednesday that the integrity of the election had not been compromised. Its head, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, urged elected representatives to protect public confidence in the democratic process.
Speaking during a meeting with Herzog, Sohlberg warned that attempts to undermine public trust posed a serious threat, stressing that the peaceful transfer of power was a fundamental pillar of democracy. He also described high voter turnout, including among Arab citizens, as a positive development.
Meanwhile, far-right allies of Netanyahu, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have called for the immediate arrest and interrogation of Arab party leaders.