OCCUPIED JERUSALEM —
Israel’s president
began talks with party leaders Wednesday on the new governing coalition to be
headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, after receiving official results of the November
1 election won by the veteran right-winger.
اضافة اعلان
Such presidential consultations had been a source of
intrigue after Israel’s four previous elections, as it was not immediately
clear which leader would get the first shot at forming a coalition, or whether
they would be successful.
But this month’s general election delivered a clear
win for Netanyahu, who has served as prime minister longer than anyone else in
Israel’s 74-year history.
His right-wing Likud and its allies — two
ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and the extreme-right Religious Zionism bloc —
won 64 of the 120 seats in parliament.
After a period of unprecedented political gridlock,
that result has given Netanyahu the majority to form a stable governing
coalition, which may also be the most right-wing in Israeli history.
President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday denied reports
that he was working to bring Netanyahu’s rivals — outgoing centrist Prime
Minister Yair Lapid and defense minister Benny Gantz — into a unity government
that would sideline the controversial Jewish Power party leader, anti-Arab
agitator Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“I have not worked, nor am I working, to push for the
establishment of any particular government, and I am not involved in its
composition or size,” Herzog said.
“I leave that task to the political system, and to
it alone.”
Herzog, who assumed Israel’s largely ceremonial
presidency last year, was meeting first with envoys of Netanyhu’s Likud, the
largest bloc in the new parliament, which will be sworn in next week.
Representing Likud, lawmaker
Miri Regev made clear
the party intends for Netanyahu to “form a stable, right-wing government with a
minimum four-year term”.
The president’s party consultations will continue
until sundown Friday.
Herzog’s office said the president “will assign the
task of forming a government this coming Sunday”.
Netanyahu will likely have to juggle demands from
his extreme-right allies for policy commitments and cabinet posts, but is not
expected to face insurmountable challenges during the coalition negotiations.
The ex-premier, who led Israel from 1996 to 1999 and
then through a record 2009 to 2021 tenure, has already held preliminary talks
with his expected coalition partners.
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