Today (Wednesday) Israeli President Isaac Herzog begins consultations to appoint a person to form the new government, after the legislative elections that reflected a sharp division, in which the outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his main competitor, Gadi Eisenkot, did not obtain a likely majority to lead the Hebrew state.
Although the position of head of state in Israel remains largely ceremonial, it is up to Herzog to decide who will be given the opportunity to try to form a government, a process that may take weeks or even months, and may end in failure and lead to new elections.
Herzog's positions raised speculation that he might seek the opinions of party leaders regarding forming a national unity government, in an effort to achieve stability in a country witnessing severe polarization after years of wars and the hard-line policies of Netanyahu's government, which is considered the most right-wing in Israel's history.
After officially receiving the results of the October 27 elections, the first since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which ignited the war in the Gaza Strip, Herzog will begin two days of consultations at five in the afternoon (15.00 GMT).
His office explained that he would meet with the beginning of the small parties, and that he would meet on Thursday evening with the two largest parties, which are the right-wing Likud, led by Netanyahu, and the Yashar Party, led by former Chief of Staff Eisenkot.
Despite pressure exerted by Netanyahu and his accusations of fraud against the Arab parties, the Israeli Elections Commission announced that its audit of the elections did not reveal any violations affecting the integrity of the vote.
The committee said in a statement: “The audit has been completed. We reviewed all the complaints submitted by the political forces, and we found no indication of any violation of the integrity of the elections.”
The Election Commission explained that it studied all the appeals submitted by parties or individuals, and examined more than nine thousand ballot boxes, which is an “unprecedented number.”
Neither the right-wing nor the opposition bloc obtained the parliamentary majority necessary to form a government, i.e. 61 seats out of 120 in the Knesset. Netanyahu's bloc gained an advantage with 53 seats, compared to 48 for Eisenkot's bloc.
The latter can guarantee the necessary majority if he allies with the Arab parties, which achieved an unprecedented result by winning 19 seats, but some opposition parties are reluctant to cooperate with them or rely on the votes of non-Jewish representatives.
“New ideas”
Herzog, who began his career in the Labor Party, which is currently almost absent from the political arena, said that he wants to push for the adoption of “new ideas” and avoid a second ballot.
His office added in a statement: “It is important to exhaust all options, expand dialogue, and explore all ways that might move the process forward.”
The person assigned by Herzog will have a period of 28 days to form the government, which can be extended for an additional 14 days. In the event of failure to do so, the President of the State grants the mandate to another person.
If the second person assigned does not succeed in the task, the majority of Knesset members can agree within 21 days on another candidate, otherwise the country will head to new elections.
Netanyahu needed 58 days to form his government after the November 2022 elections, noting that Likud achieved a better result at the time than its result today.
The political crisis pushed Israelis to go to the polls five times between 2019 and 2022.
Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history, who ruled for nearly two decades, albeit non-continuously, enjoys a strong popular base. But he also faces strong opposition. One of the most prominent reasons for his opposition is his effort to restructure the judiciary, while some hold him responsible for the security negligence that allowed the Hamas attack to occur.
Netanyahu also faces corruption charges and the possibility of going to prison if he loses power and his immunity.
Late in the election campaign, Netanyahu vowed to resume strikes on Iran in coordination with US President Donald Trump, after the two sides launched the war in the Middle East by attacking the Islamic Republic on February 28.
For his part, Eisenkot warned the military and security establishment against implementing orders that serve Netanyahu’s political purposes, considering that the latter has lost the popular mandate, even if he remains head of a caretaker government.
No unity government
While Netanyahu called for the formation of an “expanded unity government” headed by him, his opponents stressed that this was out of the question, attributing this to his personality and accusing him of failing to prevent an attack in 2023.
During their first meeting after the elections, Eisenkot and other opposition leaders pledged on Tuesday to move quickly to form a government and remove Netanyahu from power, without specifying how to achieve this.
There is disagreement among the opposition parties regarding the possibility of alliance and cooperation with Arab parties.
Youssef Jabareen, head of the Joint Arab List, which won 11 seats in the elections, said in an interview with Agence France-Presse on Monday that the opposition must accept the “political truth” and cooperate with his list to remove Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has repeatedly warned Jewish Israelis that the opposition will cooperate with Arab parties, which he accuses of supporting the Hamas movement.
On the other hand, Jabareen stressed that potential partners will have to at least express a positive stance towards the positions of the Joint List, which rejects Netanyahu’s approach, which he described as “an approach of wars and destruction in Gaza and settler terrorism in the occupied West Bank.”
