Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he will announce on Sunday who he will task with forming a new government, after opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot won the backing of a clear majority of lawmakers to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In consultations with political parties following the Oct 27 election, 67 members of the 120-seat Knesset recommended Eisenkot, a former military chief, while 46 recommended Netanyahu and seven abstained. Neither won an outright majority in the election.
The mandate traditionally goes to the candidate recommended by more lawmakers, but Herzog said the outcome was not entirely clear because of mutual vetoes between and within the political blocs, and that he would hold personal talks with some party leaders.
Two Arab-majority lists, which won an unprecedented 19 seats, said they were backing Eisenkot. However, Israel Beiteinu, a right-wing party in Eisenkot’s camp led by Avigdor Liberman, has repeatedly said it will not sit in a government that relies on support from Arab parties.
United Torah Judaism, an ultra-Orthodox party that backed Netanyahu after the previous five elections, declined to recommend anyone for prime minister this time.
Eisenkot’s Yashar party said Israelis had chosen change and called for the immediate formation of a national emergency government.