Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said Wednesday that he expects to grant the mandate for the formation of a government on Sunday, following an early parliamentary election that gave victory to the right-wing bloc led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.
Herzog, who received the official results of the elections earlier in the day, said in a message on his official account on the social network Twitter that he «will proceed to fulfill the duties imposed by law», in reference to the consultations with the parties for the delivery of the mandate.
«I will fulfill my responsibility in the spirit of the law, the rules and practice, in line with the tradition of Israeli presidents for generations. I will conclude the consultations on Friday and appoint the government on Sunday,» he stressed.
Herzog is expected to give the mandate to form the government to Netanyahu, whose bloc controls more than half of the seats in the Knesset. The Israeli president will begin contacts with all the political parties this Wednesday, according to the newspaper ‘The Times of Israel’.
The Likud-led bloc, which has the support of ultra-Orthodox and ultra-right parties, has 64 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, so Netanyahu has the way open to return to office less than two years after his electoral defeat.
For his part, the current Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, could receive the support of the Labor leader, Meirav Michaeli, although other of his partners, such as the National Union and Yisrael Beitenu, as well as the Arab parties Raam and Hadash-Taal would not recommend any candidate.
