Israel: Gantz to Try to Form Israeli Government on Wednesday

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday he was giving up on his bid to form the next government, passing the baton to another political candidate for the first time in more than a decade.

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The task of trying to form the next coalition government will be passed to Benny Gantz, by President Reuven Rivlin. Netanyahu told Rivlin on Monday he retires after failing to win support from a majority of parliament.

An article from The Washington Port expresses that success for former military chiefs of staff, Gantz, is far from certain, and according to some it may be mathematically and ideologically impossible. If he wants to become next PM, he must now enter negotiations with some very unlikely coalition partners or persuade the ruling Likud party to drop its longtime leader.

Given the case that Benny Gantz also fails to form a government coalition within the set period, the possibility will be opened for any other deputy of the Israeli Parliament to opt for a period of 21 days to form an executive, as dictated by the law of Israel.

If not achieved even with this alternative, the country must repeat the elections. In the last elections held in September, the Blue and White Gantz party received the majority of votes with 25.93 percent and obtained 33 of the 120 seats in Parliament, while Netanyahu reached 25.09 percent of votes and 31 seats in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament).

The third political force in these elections was the Joint List, which brings together Balad, Hadash, Taal and the United Arab List, with 10.62 percent of the votes and 13 seats in Parliament.

The Arab-Israeli formation announced its intention to support Gantz, with which the candidate would gain more support from parliamentarians than Netanyahu; nevertheless, the leader clarified that this does not suppose a support to his policies.

For its part, the coalition of the Labor Party and the Gesher Party (which obtained 4.8 percent of votes and 6 places in Parliament), bets its votes in favor of Gantz for Prime Minister of the Israeli regime, fundamentally to prevent Netanyahu coming back to power.