Israel's President Begins Consultations to Form Government Amid Political Stalemate

President Yitzhak Herzog is set to officially begin the process of forming Israel's 38th government on Wednesday, following the recent Knesset elections. At noon, he will receive the official election results from the Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg. In the afternoon, Herzog will commence consultations with representatives of the parties elected to the Knesset. Breaking with tradition, the President will start with smaller factions and gradually move to the larger ones. This approach aims to explore a wider range of government formation possibilities before hearing from the major parties, potentially uncovering new solutions to the ongoing political deadlock.

The President's schedule includes meetings with the Religious Zionism party at 5:00 PM, followed by Shas at 6:15 PM, Yisrael Beiteinu at 7:30 PM, and Zehut at 8:45 PM. On Thursday, consultations will resume in the morning, concluding in the evening with meetings with the two largest parties. The schedule includes United Torah Judaism, Otzma Yehudit, Democrats, Ra'am, the Joint List, Together (led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid), Yishar (led by Gadi Eisenkot), and finally Likud, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

After the consultations, President Herzog will decide whom to task with forming the government. He is not obligated to assign the task to the leader of the largest party or the candidate with the most recommendations. According to Basic Law: The Government, the President must consult with the factions and assign the task to a Knesset member who agrees to it within seven days of the official results being published. The designated Knesset member will then have 28 days to form a government, with a possible extension of up to 14 days, totaling 42 days. If the candidate fails, the President can assign the task to another Knesset member or declare that forming a government is impossible. The law also allows for 61 Knesset members to request that the task be assigned to a mutually agreed-upon candidate.

The consultations are commencing with no political bloc holding a clear majority. The bloc supporting Netanyahu has 53 mandates, the opposing bloc has 48, and Ra'am and the Joint List together hold 19. Likud remains the largest party with 27 seats, followed by Eisenkot's Yishar with 21, and Bennett and Lapid's Together with 12. This means Netanyahu cannot form a government with his current partners alone, while his opponents need additional support to reach the 61-seat majority. The parties opposing Netanyahu have agreed to recommend Gadi Eisenkot for the mandate, while Shas and Religious Zionism support Netanyahu. However, disagreements persist within the opposition regarding cooperation with Arab parties, with Lieberman opposing a government reliant on their support. The parties also failed to agree on a successor for Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. Therefore, the presidential consultations are just the initial phase of a complex political struggle with an uncertain outcome.