Israel's president tasks opposition leader Eisenkot with forming government

Israel's president says he will task opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming a new coalition government.

Isaac Herzog has been holding talks with political parties after neither Eisenkot's bloc nor that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a majority in Israel's parliament, known as the Knesset, following last week's election.

Eisenkot will now have 28 days to try to form a new administration, with a potential 14-day extension.

"Now is the time to form a national emergency government. I will do everything to ensure we are worthy," the former military chief wrote on X.

No political party in Israel has ever won an outright majority, meaning all governments have been coalitions.

Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies won 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, while Eisenkot's centrist Yashar party and three other Jewish opposition parties in his bloc won 48.

Two Arab-led alliances, the United Arab List and the Joint List, together won an unprecedented 19 seats following a surge in turnout among Arab voters.

That positions them as potential kingmakers. However, all but one of the Jewish parties pledged before the polls not to work with them to form a government.

Herzog said that, after consulting all parties during the week, he would give Eisenkot the first chance to form a government.

A statement from the president's office said he had informed both Eisenkot and Netanyahu of the decision.

Following consultations with delegations from the incoming Knesset members, Eisenkot received 67 recommendations for the premiership and Netanyahu 46, the statement said.

The president has broad discretion to pick someone they believe has the best chance of building a coalition and does not have to choose the leader of the party with the most seats.

The election results had implied three possible options for the formation of a government: a national unity administration involving both Netanyahu and Eisenkot, a right-wing coalition involving Netanyahu and defectors from Eisenkot's bloc, or an Eisenkot-led government supported by the Arab parties.

Eisenkot and every member of his bloc bar one has previously refused to enter government with Arab parties, but there has been speculation that an agreement could be reached.

He could also attempt to reach a deal with ultra-Orthodox parties, but that too would be difficult.

There is precedent for a unity government. In 2020, following three deadlocked elections, Netanyahu and his centrist rival Benny Gantz agreed a power-sharing deal in which the leadership rotated between the two.

During his consultations with the parties, Herzog had said that to prevent another round of elections and to build a stable government, he expected "factions and their representatives to understand that, in the current reality, not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled".

In the period 2019 to 2022, one of the most politically fractured in Israeli politics, there were five separate elections as Netanyahu and his rivals struggled time and again to co-operate.