On a Saturday evening in November, Israel's president set in motion one of the most delicate rituals of a divided democracy: entrusting the task of forming a government to a rival who, though second in the vote, may hold the key to a majority. Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief now leading a coalition built in opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu, inherits a Knesset split almost exactly down the middle, where neither camp can yet claim the 61 seats that would make it a government. The choice reflects a country that has repeatedly asked its citizens to choose and then waited, sometimes uneasily, fo
Herzog Taps Eisenkot to Try Forming Israeli Government After Razor-Thin October Election
Neither reached the 61 seats required for a majority.
Mark
Eisenkot came second, 48 seats to 53. Why does he get the first try?
Mimi
Because of the endorsements. Both Arab-majority lists said this week they'd recommend him as prime minister, and Netanyahu has ruled out working with Arab parties.
Mark
So the largest bloc doesn't automatically get the mandate.
Mimi
Not here. Netanyahu's camp is the largest, but it lost its majority. What counts is who can plausibly reach 61.
Luke
Careful, though. An endorsement is a recommendation to the president, not a promise of a working coalition. The source doesn't say what the Arab parties would do in a government.
Mark
What does the reporting say about his path?
Mimi
That it's tricky, involving difficult combinations of Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties. He has 28 days, plus a possible 14-day extension.
Luke
And we don't know how those combinations would work. The reporting calls it complicated but doesn't say which ultra-Orthodox parties are in play or whether any have signaled openness.
Mark
What if he fails?
Mimi
The mandate goes to someone else, and if nobody succeeds, Israel goes back to elections.
Luke
Which is a real possibility, not a formality. Nothing confirmed yet says he has the votes.
O Pulso
- Neither bloc reached 61 seats, leaving Israel's government hanging on a razor-thin arithmetic.
- Netanyahu's camp holds the most seats yet has lost its majority, unsettling a long-dominant political order.
- Arab parties have publicly backed Eisenkot while Netanyahu has ruled out working with them, sharpening the coalition dilemma.
- Eisenkot has 28 days, extendable by 14, to assemble 61 votes before the mandate passes or fresh elections loom.
On a Saturday evening in November, Israel's president set in motion one of the most delicate rituals of a divided democracy: entrusting the task of forming a government to a rival who, though second in the vote, may hold the key to a majority. Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief now leading a coalition built in opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu, inherits a Knesset split almost exactly down the middle, where neither camp can yet claim the 61 seats that would make it a government. The choice reflects a country that has repeatedly asked its citizens to choose and then waited, sometimes uneasily, for politics to convert numbers into a shared direction.
On Saturday evening, the office of Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced that Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief of staff who leads the centrist Yashar party, would be asked to form the next government. A formal ceremony is set for Sunday at the president's residence.
The decision follows an October election that ended almost in a tie. Eisenkot's alliance took 48 of 120 Knesset seats, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp won 53. Neither side reached the 61 needed to govern, so the question moved from the ballot box to the slow work of negotiation.
Eisenkot's selection is striking because his bloc finished second. What he holds that Netanyahu does not is the backing of the Arab parties, which this week announced they would recommend him as prime minister. Netanyahu has ruled out working with them, so the paths to a majority now diverge sharply.
Even with that support, the road is narrow. Building a workable coalition will require difficult combinations across Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties. Eisenkot has 28 days to do it, with a possible 14-day extension. If he cannot, the mandate passes to another candidate, and if no one succeeds, Israel returns to the polls.
On Saturday evening, the office of Israeli President Isaac Herzog released a short statement naming the man he intends to charge with forming the country's next government. He is Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief of staff, who leads the centrist Yashar party and heads an alliance assembled in opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to the statement, Eisenkot was told of Herzog's intention to task him with forming a government. He will be invited to the president's residence, where a formal ceremony is to take place on Sunday.
The choice follows an October election that came down to a neck-and-neck contest. Eisenkot's wide-ranging group won 48 of the 120 seats in the Knesset. Netanyahu's camp won 53. Neither reached the 61 seats required for a majority, so the question of who governs was passed to the president and then to the hard arithmetic of coalition building.
That Eisenkot received the first opportunity is notable because his bloc finished second. Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, leads a religious-nationalist coalition that emerged as the largest bloc but lost its majority in the vote. Eisenkot, though runner-up, secured something Netanyahu did not: endorsements from the Arab parties.
During the past week, both Arab-majority lists announced that they would recommend Eisenkot as the next prime minister. Netanyahu, for his part, has ruled out working with Arab parties to reach a majority. That leaves the two sides with very different routes to 61, and only one of them currently runs through those endorsements.
Even so, the path ahead is narrow. Eisenkot's task involves assembling difficult combinations of Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties, and the move by Herzog is only the first step toward what are almost certain to be complicated negotiations.
The clock is defined. Eisenkot will have 28 days to gather the 61 votes needed to form a government. If he falls short, Herzog can grant a 14-day extension. After that, the mandate must be offered to someone else. If no candidate succeeds, Israel heads to fresh elections.
The first marker comes Sunday at the president's residence, when the ceremony formally begins Eisenkot's 28 days.
Citações Notáveis
Eisenkot was informed of the president's intention to task him with forming a government.— Statement from President Isaac Herzog's office
Quer a matéria completa?
Leia o original em Deutsche Welle ↗
Politics & Governance