AI Brief
- President Isaac Herzog began consultations to determine who will form Israel's next coalition government after no faction secured a majority in the recent election.
- Opposition parties secured 67 seats, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats in the 120-member parliament, according to official results.
- Herzog met with smaller party representatives first and will assign the mandate to form a government after consultations conclude on Thursday.
ISRAELI President Isaac Herzog began Wednesday evening party consultations on whom to task with forming a new coalition government in the Jewish state, as no faction won a majority needed to form a government in last week's election.
Israel's Central Elections Committee officially announced the results of last week's parliamentary election earlier on Wednesday, confirming that opposition parties won 67 seats in the 120-member parliament, against 53 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling bloc.
The opposition's 67 seats include 48 won by parties aligned with former military chief Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party and 19 by the Arab-led parties, namely the Joint List, a coalition of three parties, and the Muslim Ra'am party.
Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot has the 61 seats needed to form a majority government without support from outside their respective blocs. Central Elections Committee Chairman and Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg then presented the results to Herzog.
Later Wednesday evening, Herzog met with representatives from the Religious Zionist Party, Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu at the presidential residence to receive their recommendations for prime minister.
According to Israeli media, Herzog has broken with precedent in this round of coalition consultations by meeting first with delegations of smaller parties. His talks with representatives of major political blocs are scheduled for Thursday.
The consultations are expected to wrap up on Thursday evening. Herzog will then, in accordance with law, task the lawmaker most likely to form a government with building the new cabinet.
