The Arab party Ra'am will support Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot for prime minister of Israel even if a coalition agreement is not signed beforehand. This was reported by the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz,” cited by “Europa Press.”
Ra'am has eight MPs in the Knesset. The parties supporting Eisenkot hold a total of 48 seats in the 120-member parliament, while 61 are needed for a majority. Thus, the votes of the Arab factions could prove decisive in forming a government, although Yashar officially rejects dependence on them.
Arab parties hold a key position
The other Arab-Israeli formation, the United List, has 11 seats. It also supports Eisenkot as a candidate for prime minister, but for now its official position is to abstain rather than vote in support of the government.
According to information from “Haaretz,” Ra'am and the United List want a new speaker of the Knesset to be elected first. Ra'am is also seeking to prevent the future government from depending on the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.
Support from the Arab parties, however, puts Eisenkot before a political dilemma. His Yashar party says it does not want to rely on Arab factions, but without their support the opposition bloc cannot reach a parliamentary majority.
Eisenkot received the mandate after an election that produced no majority
President Isaac Herzog announced that he would task Eisenkot with forming a government after consultations with the parties represented in parliament. “Sixty-seven of the 120 MPs recommended to President Herzog that Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot be given the mandate to form a government,” the president’s office said in its summary of the consultations, cited by “Europa Press.”
Another 46 MPs recommended that the mandate be given to the outgoing prime minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu. The parliamentary elections on October 27 did not produce a bloc with the required 61 seats, leaving open the possibility of a coalition with outside support or of new political negotiations.
After the mandate is formally assigned, Eisenkot will have 28 days to form a government. The president may extend the period by a further 14 days. If the negotiations fail, another round of consultations on the mandate will follow, and the political instability could also lead to new elections.