Israel: Eisenkot tasked with forming government without parliamentary majority
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Vanguard
Israel’s new 120-seat parliament is due to be sworn in on Tuesday, with Netanyahu losing his majority. Eisenkot, tasked with forming the government, proposes Matan Kahana as speaker, according to his Yashar party.
Israel’s new parliament, whose 120 seats are divided between the blocs, is sworn in on Tuesday. Neither Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc nor Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition holds a majority, and Netanyahu is set to lose his. Eisenkot, who received the mandate from President Isaac Herzog on Sunday, has 28 days, extendable by 14, to form a government.
The opposition wants to propose Matan Kahana, a former senior military figure like Eisenkot, for the speaker’s post. Avigdor Lieberman, a prominent right-wing opposition figure, is to be appointed head of the foreign affairs and defence committee. The government must secure 61 votes. Eisenkot’s bloc has 48 seats; it would reach a majority if the 19 Arab-Israeli deputies supported it without joining the government, or if the two ultra-Orthodox parties, with 13 seats, allied with it.
Lieberman has ruled out Eisenkot governing with Arab-Israelis and proposes an alliance with the ultra-Orthodox, despite years of criticism over their exemption from military service.
