The leaders of Israel’s political parties opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met for the first time since last week’s election, as the country is mired in political deadlock from results that do not show either side with a conclusive win.
The Opposition parties agreed to recommend former general Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, to form the first coalition.
Israel’s president, who holds a largely ceremonial position, chooses which party will have the first attempt to build a majority coalition of 61 seats after the election. Results released by election officials early Friday showed Netanyahu’s bloc winning 53 seats in the 120-member assembly, well below the 68 seats it had controlled at its peak in the previous parliament. His main opposition won 48 seats and Arab-led parties secured the other 19. Eisenkot accuses Netanyahu of trying to delegitimize the vote
Likud also has alleged foreign interference in the vote. The Shin Bet security service, at the request of Israel’s election commission, has opened a probe. But the head of the elections committee, the Supreme Court, said that “our position is that even if the suspicions are substantiated, this would not undermine the integrity of the electoral process or the election results as a whole.”