Israel's Arab party Ra'am officially supports Eisenkot as its prime ministerial candidate

Ra'am Party, an Arab political party in Israel, officially announced that it would nominate former chief of staff of the centrist opposition Gadi Eisenkot as its candidate for the next prime minister.

Accordingly, the possibility that he will be the first to obtain the authority to form a coalition government has increased.

The Ra'am Party, which secured eight seats in the last general election, announced in a short statement on the 4th (local time) that it would recommend party leader Eisenkot Yashar as Israel's next prime minister.

Accordingly, the total number of lawmakers recommending Eisenkot is 56, which is more than the number of lawmakers supporting current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (53).

The remaining 11 seats out of a total of 120 Knesset seats are held by the Joint List, another coalition of Arab political parties.

The Joint List is also opposed to Netanyahu's return to power, but is expected to abstain from recommending a specific prime ministerial candidate.

In Israel, after a general election, the president compiles recommendations from political parties in the National Assembly and gives priority to the person most likely to form a coalition.

As Eisenkot secured a majority of recommendations, it became likely that he would receive the first nomination from President Yitzhak Herzog, who began meetings with political parties entering the National Assembly on this day.

Nominated candidates must form a coalition within a maximum of 42 days.

However, the support of the Raam Party does not mean a smooth formation of a government.

During the election campaign, Eisenkot announced that he would not include Ra'am Party, an Arab political party, in the coalition government.

To make matters worse, his key ally, Avigdor Liberman, leader of the right-wing Israel Beitenu party, has drawn the line that he will not cooperate with the launch of a minority government that falls short of a majority, making the coalition calculations even more complicated.

In the general election held on the 27th, neither Eisenkot nor Netanyahu could independently secure 61 seats (majority), which is the standard for launching a coalition government.

Meanwhile, Ra'am also participated in the 'Rainbow Coalition', which was formed under the banner of anti-Netanyahu after the general election held in 2021.