On Thursday, the Arab alliance, the Joint List, announced its support for Gadi Eisenkot as its choice for prime minister. After a second day of consultations with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be losing ground in the battle to form the next government following the general election.
If all agree, Eisenkot jumps to 67 seats in the Knesset, which allows him to form the government. Track the latest on Israel election results here As the deliberations continue, President Herzog has said that he will task a leader to form the next government by Sunday, November 8. Herzog held a second day of consultations with political parties on Thursday after the October 27 election. With support from Ra’am and Joint List, the Eisenkot bloc can go upto 67 seats in the Knesset.
Arab party Ra’am also announced it is ready to back Eisenkot as prime minister. However, the road to PM will not be easy. Here’s a look at where the government formation stands in Israel. The Israeli president added that he intends to meet with several party heads in private over the weekend to “leave no stone unturned to bring about the formation of a good, stable government for the people of Israel. During this, the odds tipped in favour of Gadi Eisenkot, after the Arab alliance’s Joint List backed the Yashar leader.
However, to do so, the bloc’s parties will have to break their “anti-Arab” pact and form a coalition with Arab parties. The party informed Herzog “that it has decided not to recommend any member of Knesset to form a government”, the president’s office said in a statement, referring to the 120-member parliament in which United Torah Judaism won seven seats. After the second day of consultations, President Herzog announced that he would grant the mandate to one of the candidates on Sunday.
