Herzog accepts Israel's election results and opens talks on forming a government

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday accepted the certified results of last week's parliamentary election and began consultations with party leaders on who should be tasked with forming the next government. The move undercuts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to discredit a vote in which he and his allies lost their majority in the 120-seat Knesset, while Arab-led parties recorded their best result yet.

No bloc reached a majority

In the October 27 election, neither Netanyahu's coalition nor the bloc of his main rival, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, won the 61 seats needed to govern. Netanyahu's coalition took 53 seats and Eisenkot's took 48. The Arab-led parties, Ra'am and the Joint List, together secured a record 19. That leaves open an alliance between the two leaders, or one between Eisenkot and the Arab-led parties.

Herzog started consulting party leaders on Wednesday night. Three factions aligned with Netanyahu's religious-nationalist base recommended he be given the chance to form a coalition, while a fourth, led by a former Netanyahu ally turned rival, backed Eisenkot. Eight more parties, including both Arab-led factions, meet the president on Thursday, with Eisenkot's Yashar party and Netanyahu's Likud going last.

Ra'am said it would recommend Eisenkot, lifting his expected support to 56 lawmakers, according to Ynet, still short of a majority. The Joint List has not announced its stance, but Israel's Channel 12 reported it was expected to coordinate with Eisenkot, and its 11 seats could push him past 61. Netanyahu's bloc, meanwhile, may not deliver all 53 endorsements: Degel HaTorah, which holds four of United Torah Judaism's seven seats, said it would back neither candidate. The Times of Israel reported the ultra-Orthodox faction broke with Netanyahu after his coalition failed to pass a law exempting Haredi men from military service.

Next steps

When consultations end, Herzog will pick the candidate he believes is best placed to build a coalition, almost certainly Netanyahu or Eisenkot. He has several days to announce his choice, after which the nominee has 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. If neither succeeds, Israel would hold another election early next year.

Fraud claims not substantiated

Netanyahu and his supporters have repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the Arab-led parties "stole" the election, possibly with foreign help. Israel's elections commission said on Wednesday it had thoroughly investigated all fraud claims and found "no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results". Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara also rejected a request to question elected officials without supporting evidence.

Herzog urged both camps to compromise to avoid a new election, saying not every promise can be fulfilled. He backed investigating the suspected interference but warned against smearing Palestinian-Israeli voters, who make up about 20 percent of the population, and condemned racist expressions heard recently.