After unsuccessful coalition negotiations in Israel, President Reuven Rivlin today instructed Parliament to form a government. Previously, another deadline had passed for opposition candidate Benni Ganz to form a coalition.
„We are in a third campaign this year in a row without one of the elected representatives being able to form a government that has the confidence of the Knesset (parliament),“ said Rivlin, according to his office. He informed Ganz, who is also President of Parliament, about this step.
Prior to this, Ganz ’Mitte-Bündnis Blau-Weiß and the Likud party of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had declared that they would continue to negotiate the formation of a“ national emergency government ”. Since the mandate now lies with the Knesset, every MP – including Ganz and Netanyahu – can try to find the support of 61 of the 120 MPs within 21 days.
After that there was another two weeks to form a coalition. Otherwise, Israel would have to vote for the fourth time since April 2019.
