Israel seeks way out of election deadlock

JERUSALEM, Oct 29: Israel's election this week was indecisive and there is no clear winner poised to form a government. Benjamin Netanyahu remains in office as caretaker prime minister, but faces a parliament stacked with an opposition majority vying to oust him.

After the formal final election results are published next week, Israel's President Isaac Herzog begins consultations with party representatives and then taps the candidate whom he deems to have the best chance to form a government.

If the candidate fails, another can try and if that candidate fails, the Knesset can nominate another. There is a deadline for the process of around 100 days. If no one succeeds, another election is held.

Herzog said on Wednesday that everything must be done to avoid another election and urged the parties to come with an open mind to the consultations with him.

Netanyahu's Likud party, emerging as the largest in the Knesset, forms a coalition that would likely include centrist and right-wing opposition parties such as Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar, the second-largest party, Avigdor Lieberman's Israel Our Home and Naftali Bennett's Together faction.

That grouping would secure 66 seats, a majority in the 120-seat parliament.

However, this option appears remote at this point because it would mean Netanyahu would likely have to abandon his natural political allies, the far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties. Further, the opposition parties would have to break their main election pledge to their voters: unseating Netanyahu.

Still, if neither camp is able to form a government at the end of weeks of protracted negotiations, a unity government may emerge as a last option.

If Herzog taps Eisenkot first, he could try to form a government with Yashar's natural allies �" Together, The Democrats and Israel Our Home �" propped up by Israel's two Arab parties, even if they are not members of this government: Ra'am and the Joint List.

Eisenkot's camp would number 48 seats, according to the latest vote tally, with the Arab parties numbering 19 seats that together reach a 67-seat majority.

But even if Eisenkot reverses his campaign pledge not to have Arab parties in government and accepts their support, it would be a hard sell to many Israelis whose attitudes toward Israel's Arab minority have hardened further since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Netanyahu has focused his campaign on delegitimizing support from Arab parties, who surged to record heights in Tuesday's election, and for now, only The Democrats, a centre-left party, has come out publicly calling for their inclusion.

Both Arab parties have signalled that they are prepared to cooperate with Eisenkot's camp.

Netanyahu's coalition has fallen from its original 64 seats to 53, according to the latest election results. But Israel's longest-serving leader is viewed as one of its most skilled politicians and he could split the opposition by peeling away members of its parties and bringing them over to his side.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulled ahead on Wednesday as votes were counted in Israel’s election, but the loss of a parliamentary majority leaves his path to another term dependent on drawing rivals into a coalition.

With the turnout in Tuesday's election at a record high and nearly 86% of votes tallied, Israel's three main broadcasters put Netanyahu's bloc of right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties on course to win 53 seats in parliament, with the opposition bloc of rival GadiEisenkot trailing on 48. Both remained short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the Knesset, or parliament, while parties representing Arab Israelis were projected to win 19 seats.

Despite the fallout from the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and criticism of the security failures on his watch that the attacks exposed, Netanyahu won the support of an unexpectedly clear majority of Israeli Jews and has emerged at the head of the largest bloc.

Netanyahu will stay on as caretaker prime minister while Israel’s president decides whom to ask to form a government. Despite not having a parliamentary majority, he retains the power of incumbency and a path to form a coalition government.

The United States is Israel's most important ally, and Trump could use his public backing for Netanyahu as leverage to push for a broader coalition, Bushinsky said.
�"REUTERS