Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has approved the verified results of the national elections in a blow to the efforts of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to undermine the outcome and he has initiated a dialogue with representatives of various political parties.
“Holding the elections is over, and it’s time to deal with reality,” Herzog said Wednesday after receiving the official results and starting the process to form a government.
Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist bloc claimed 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, while the oppositional alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former top general, garnered 48. Neither side achieved the 61 seats necessary to form a majority government in the parliament.
The findings also leave the door open for a bloc formed by Eisenkot and the Arab parties, who together achieved 19 seats, to join together in the coalition, potentially ending Netanyahu’s reign.
The Central Elections Committee in Israel announced it had found no evidence of irregularities that may have undermined the integrity of the vote or affected its outcome, despite frequent fraud allegations by Netanyahu and his supporters, The Associated Press reported.
Herzog called on politicians to reach a compromise that would prevent elections, adding that in the current circumstances no faction would be able to deliver on all the promises made in its campaign.
The presidential candidate will announce the parliamentarian he believes has the best chance of building a governing coalition. Once named, the candidate will have 28 days to do so, with a 14-day extension.
