Political consultations ongoing in Israel to form new government

Consultations between Israeli President Isaac Herzog and political parties to form a new government in Israel are set to conclude on Thursday, more than a week after divisive general elections.

Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party nor that of his main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, secured an outright majority in parliament.

Both sides are now locked in negotiations to persuade smaller parties to join a governing coalition.

Far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's party, Otzma Yehudit, who is aligned with Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist base, recommended him. So did the far-right Religious Zionism party, led by Bezalel Smotrich, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party and the right-wing Zehut party.

United Torah Judaism, who usually backs Netanyahu, didn't recommend anyone.

Gadi Eisenkot can count on the support of opposition lists. Yisrael Beiteinu, led by former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, endorsed Eisenkot.

Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday accepted the certified results of the parliamentary elections, a blow to Netanyahu’s efforts to discredit the vote, in which he and his allies lost their majority in parliament while Arab-led parties made historic gains.

“The elections are over. Now is the time to face reality,” Herzog said.

The two Arab-led lists, Raam and the Joint List, are expecting to play a key role in forming a governing coalition.

Netanyahu and his supporters have repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election, possibly with foreign assistance.

Israel’s elections commission said earlier on Wednesday that after a thorough investigation of all parties’ claims of fraud, it had found “no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results.”

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