Netanyahu’s main challenger Benny Gantz said that he will be unable to form a government, paving the way for a third Israeli election within a year.
Israel is facing the prospect of its third election within a year as Benny Gantz, Blue and White party leader, announced on Wednesday that he will not be able to form a new government.
Gantz, former president Benjamin Netanyahu’s main opponent, was charged with forming a government after Netanyahu failed to garner enough support. President Reuven Rivlin had given him a midnight deadline to form a coalition agreement.
“Benny Gantz spoke with President Reuven Rivlin and updated him that he is unable to form a government,” said the official statement. He now returns the mandate to Rivlin.
“I raised every stone to try and form a national unity government,” he said in a speech. “Netanyahu must remember that we are still in a democracy and that the majority of the people voted for a policy different from his own.”
This announcement deals a major setback to Gantz’s hopes of replacing Netanyahu as prime minister.
What happens now?
Parliament now has 21 days to rally around Gantz, Netanyahu or another candidate to avoid the third election within twelve months.
Despite how unlikely his prospects now are of forming a government, Gantz still vows “to form a good government for the citizens of Israel.”
Avigdor Lieberman, leader of a smaller Israeli party and dubbed “kingmaker” in the election, said earlier on Wednesday that he would not support Gantz, all but ensuring Gantz’s failure. He previously also ruled out working with Netanyahu.
Neither Gantz nor Netanyahu have the required majority in parliament to form a government in their own right. Despite rounds of meetings, both have been unwilling to bend on key issues.
Uncertain election outcomes in April led to a second vote in September. A third election now seems likely with no other solution on the horizon.
This article was originally published inDW. You can read ithere.
Exit polls show Netanyahu’s Likud and the centrist Blue and White in a tie. Neither party appears to have enough seats with their allies to form a majority.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to suffer a setback in national elections Tuesday, with his religious and nationalist allies failing to secure a parliamentary majority, early exit polls showed.
Exit polls from Israel’s three major television stations showed the centrist Blue and White party of ex-military chief Benny Gantz is projected to win 32 to 34 seats, while Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party is on pace for between 30 and 33 seats. Another projection estimated both parties would receive 32 seats each.
Israeli exit polls are often imprecise and initial results expected on Wednesday could shift the seat count.
Either way, the results indicate that Netanyahu or Gantz will face tough and protracted negotiations to cobble together a government.
The initial results showed that neither Blue and White nor Likud would be able to form a 61-seat majority in the 120 member Knesset with the support of their allies.
Likud and its religious and nationalist allies with which it hoped to form a majority only have 55 seats, less than in April’s election, according to the average of the three exit polls. Blue and White could enlist the support of 59 for a centre-left government.
Lieberman as kingmaker
The results put ex-Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman in a kingmaker role. His secular, hardline Yisrael Beitenu that receives most of its support from Russian-speakers was on pace to win 9 seats, nearly double its performance in April’s election.
Lieberman, a former Netanyahu protege, refused to join a Likud-led government following April’s election because of what he described as excessive influence from ultra-Orthodox religious parties. His move forced Netanyahu to call new elections to avoid giving other parties a chance to form a government.
A potential complication is that Gantz has ruled out forming a government with a Netanyahu-led Likud at a time when the prime minister is expected to be indicted on corruption charges in the coming weeks. Lawmakers in Gantz’s party have said they are open to a unity government with Likud, but not under Netanyahu’s leadership.
“We will act to form a broad unity government that will express the will of the people,” Gantz said at a post-election rally, though he cautioned supporters to wait for final results.
Lieberman is unlikely to want to sit in a government with left-wing Arab parties or the ultra-Orthodox religious parties. Blue and White is also unlikely to ask Arab parties to join a coalition.
Netanyahu in a late-night address to party supporters said that he wanted to assemble a “strong Zionist government and to prevent a dangerous anti-Zionist government” with any Arab parties.
Continuing a campaign theme against Israel’s 20% Arab minority that critics have called racist, he claimed that Arab parties “negate the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state” and “glorify bloodthirsty murderers.”
Arab parties come in third place
The Joint List, an alliance of Arab parties, came in third with 14 seats, according to exit polls. They have suggested they could potentially block Netanyahu from becoming prime minister by recommending Gantz.
In other results, the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism were expected to win nine and eight seats, respectively; the right-wing Yamina party seven; the Labor Party six; and Democratic Union five seats. The ultranationalist Jewish Power faction, widely viewed as a supremacist group, failed to overcome the threshold to enter parliament.
Over the next days, the focus will shift to President Reuven Rivlin, who is responsible for choosing the candidate he believes has the best chance to form a government. That is usually, but not always, the leader of the largest party.
