Israel’s Herzog accepts vote results, opens talks on forming a govt

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has accepted the certified results of last week’s parliamentary elections and begun consultations with party leaders on whom to task with forming the next government.

The moves on Wednesday dealt a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to discredit the vote, in which he and his allies lost their majority in the 120-member parliament, while Arab-led parties made historic gains.

“The elections are over. Now is the time to face reality,” Herzog said.

In the October 27 vote, neither Netanyahu’s coalition nor the bloc of his chief rival, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, secured the 61 seats required to govern. The prime minister’s coalition won 53, while Eisonkot’s got 48.

That leaves open the possibility of an alliance between the two men or an alliance between Eisenkot and the Arab-led parties – Ra’am and the Joint List – which had secured a record 19 seats.

Herzog concluded the first day of consultations with party leaders on Wednesday night, and said talks would continue on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the president said he met with representatives of the Religious Zionism and Zehut, Shas, and Yisrael Beytenu factions. He “received their recommendations regarding the identity of the Knesset member upon whom the task of forming the government should be assigned,” Herzog said on X.

Three factions aligned with Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist base recommended that the prime minister be given a chance to form a coalition, while a fourth, led by a former Netanyahu ally turned rival, backed Eisenkot.

Eight more parties, including the two Arab-led factions, are scheduled to meet with the president on Thursday, with Eisenkot’s Yashar party and Netanyahu’s Likud going last.

Credit: aljazeera.com

The post Israel’s Herzog accepts vote results, opens talks on forming a govt appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.