Israel President Eyes New Candidate To Form Government

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published May 05, 2021 | 03:09 PM

The Israeli president met with party leaders Wednesday to determine if any lawmaker can form a government to end an unprecedented gridlock after veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed

Jerusalem (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th May, 2021 ) :The Israeli president met with party leaders Wednesday to determine if any lawmaker can form a government to end an unprecedented gridlock after veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed.

Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party finished first in the March 23 election, Israel's fourth inconclusive vote in less than two years, helping the divisive premier earn a 28-day mandate to negotiate a government.

But that mandate expired at 2100 GMT on Tuesday and Netanyahu informed President Reuven Rivlin he had been unable to secure a majority in the 120-seat parliament.

Netanyahu's failure further highlighted deep fractures in the Israeli electorate, which spread its support across the political spectrum, including far-right Jewish extremists and a conservative Islamic party.

Rivlin, whose largely ceremonial role has taken on outsized prominence amid the seemingly endless cycle of elections, has voiced doubt any lawmaker could form a government.

But several political experts on Wednesday predicted he would give a chance to opposition leader Yair Lapid, a former television anchor whose centrist Yesh Atid party finished second in the March vote.

Rivlin met Wednesday with Lapid and Naftali Bennett, a religious right-winger who has become a closely-watched kingmaker, despite his Yamina party controlling only seven parliament seats.