Israel’s President Isaac Herzog accepted the certified results of the October 27 election and began talks to form a government after neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor challenger Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc won the 61 seats needed for a Knesset majority.
Herzog received the official results on Wednesday and began meeting party representatives to decide whom to ask to form a coalition. The Central Elections Committee said a review of more than 9,000 polling stations found no irregularities that undermined the vote or changed its outcome. The findings weakened Netanyahu’s unsubstantiated claims that Arab-led parties had stolen the election.
The final count gave Netanyahu’s bloc 53 seats, Eisenkot’s opposition bloc 48 seats, and the Arab-led Ra’am and Joint List parties a combined 19 seats. Herzog urged political leaders to compromise. He said the country had no clear winner and should avoid another election.
Ra’am has recommended Eisenkot, bringing his expected support to 56 lawmakers. The Joint List’s position remained unsettled. Parties aligned with Netanyahu also backed his bid.
That left smaller groups in an important position. After the consultations, Herzog is expected to choose the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a government. That person would have 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension.
If coalition talks fail, Israel could hold another election early next year.