Eisenkot Secures Backing of 67 Lawmakers as Herzog Prepares to Assign Israel’s Government Mandate
Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot won recommendations from a majority of Knesset members after Israel's October 27 election, but President Isaac Herzog warned the numbers do not settle who can form a government. He will name the candidate to try on Sunday.
Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief who leads the Yashar party, came out of Israel’s post-election consultations with the backing of 67 of the 120 members of the Knesset, President Isaac Herzog said Thursday, giving the opposition leader the strongest claim to form the next government. Herzog said he would announce on Sunday, November 8, which lawmaker he will task with building a coalition.
The count put 46 lawmakers behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while the seven members of United Torah Judaism declined to recommend either candidate. Herzog confirmed the figures Thursday evening after two days of talks with every faction elected to the Knesset in the October 27 vote.
“The results of the consultations may appear clear, but the authority vested in me by law is to determine who has the ability to form a government, and that is not entirely clear, given the mutual vetoes between the blocs and within the blocs themselves,” Herzog said. He said he would hold further talks with party leaders over the weekend before making his decision.
A majority on paper, not a coalition yet
Eisenkot’s 67 recommendations came from two directions. The Joint List, with 11 seats, and Ra’am, with eight, both backed him, joining 48 lawmakers from four Jewish-led parties: his own Yashar, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid’s B’Yachad, the Democrats, and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu. The Arab parties said their backing reflected public demands to keep Netanyahu from returning to power, but it does not commit them to joining an Eisenkot-led coalition, and Eisenkot has ruled out governing with them.
That leaves the arithmetic short of a working majority. The four Jewish-led parties behind Eisenkot hold 48 seats between them, while Netanyahu’s bloc holds 53. Neither camp reaches the 61 seats needed to command the Knesset. Likud remained the largest single party with 27 seats, followed by Yashar with 21 and B’Yachad with 12. Turnout was 77.7 percent, according to the Central Elections Committee.
Netanyahu’s camp also lost a longtime ally in the consultations. United Torah Judaism withheld its recommendation after a dispute over legislation exempting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service, the first time in two decades the party has declined to back Netanyahu for prime minister. Party representatives said future support would depend on resolving the issue.
What happens next
On Friday, Eisenkot reaffirmed his intention to form the next government, saying an absolute majority of Knesset members support a change of government and his serving as prime minister. The new Knesset is scheduled to be sworn in on November 10 and to elect a speaker.
Under Israeli law, the lawmaker who receives the mandate will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. Netanyahu will remain prime minister in a caretaker capacity until a new coalition is in place.
Reporting based on coverage by The Media Line, The Diplomatic Insight and France 24.
