Eisenkot has backing of 67 seats, but not yet allowed to form government

JTA – Yashar Party head Gadi Eisenkot inched closer to wresting the premiership from Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, as he secured the majority support of 67 out of 120 parliamentarians, but was not yet granted the mandate to form a government. 

President Isaac Herzog said that Eisenkot had more backing than the 46 parliamentarians who favour Netanyahu, after the president held two days of consultations with all the political parties that will be sworn in next week at the opening of the 26th Knesset. 

Herzog, who is tasked with deciding which parliamentarian has the power to form a government, told the media he would not make a choice until Sunday. 

“The results of the consultations may appear clear, but the authority vested in me by law is to determine who has the ability to form a government, and that is not entirely clear,” Herzog said, adding that he would continue to hold talks with the party leaders. 

Eisenkot has the expected support of the Jewish-Israeli parties B’Yachad, Israel Beiteinu, and The Democrats, which gives him a potential coalition of 48 parties. The Arab-Israeli party Ra’am, with eight seats, also recommended him, as did The Joint List, which has 11 seats. The Joint List is expected to support Eisenkot from outside the government. This means the party would vote with the government bloc to allow it to govern, but would not formally be part of its coalition.