Following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s failure to form a government by the Tuesday at midnight deadline, President Reuven Rivlin met on Wednesday morning with the two main candidates for forming a government — opposition leader Yair Lapid and Yamina chairman Naftali Bennett.
By Wednesday afternoon, Lapid had received 56 recommendations, the members of the Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beiteinu, New Hope, Labor, Meretz, and Blue and White parties, and five of the six members of the Arab Joint List. Bennett only received seven recommendations, the seven members of his Yamina party.
Earlier on Wednesday morning, Yamina MK Amichai Chikli said that he will oppose forming a government with left-wing parties and subsequent reports said that another Yamina MK will oppose it as well.
In response, Yamina stated that “we respect the position of MK Amichai Chikli…we are obligated to do everything we can to establish a stable and functioning government that will prevent the chaos of fifth elections and that’s what we will do.”
Also earlier on Wednesday, New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar announced he is recommending Lapid as the next candidate to form a government, unlike the first round – when instead of recommending Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, he refrained from recommending anyone.
The Likud, Chareidi, and Religious Zionist parties refrained from recommending anyone and asked Rivlin to return the mandate to the Knesset.
The Islamist Ra’am Party also didn’t recommend anyone and the Arab Joint List party has not yet submitted a recommendatoin.
יו״ר יש עתיד ח"כ יאיר לפיד נועד בשעה זו עם נשיא המדינה. לפיד שב וביקש לקבל את המנדט להרכבת הממשלה
(צילום: אבי קנר) pic.twitter.com/Doab65vQsT— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 5, 2021
יו"ר ימינה נפתלי בנט הגיע לפגישתו עם הנשיא ריבלין. בכניסה לפגישה אמר: "בעזרת השם נקים ממשלה טובה לעם ישראל"@ZeevKam pic.twitter.com/qXc52d1gEl
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 5, 2021
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
I saw somewhere else that Likud recommended Yamina
What gives?
We must all daven hard that Lapid should not get the mandate as it would spell disaster choliloh.
The only solution will be for Likud to dump Netanyahu and set up a coalition of right-wing and religious parties. They have more than enough seats to block a left-wing government, and all that is preventing a right-religious coalition is the insistence on keeping Bibi.