Netanyahu will get the first crack at forming a government in Israel after indecisive election

(Image credit: Menahem Kahana/Getty Images)

last updated 26 September 2019

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is getting another shot.

Netanyahu now has 28 days to try to put together a coalition government after Israeli President Reuven Rivlin chose him over his chief opponent Benny Gantz, The New York Times reports. Netanyahu earned one more seat than Gantz in the country's parliamentary elections earlier this month, but neither was able to secure a majority government, leaving Rivlin to decide who would get the first opportunity to do so.

Netanyahu currently holds 55 seats in parliament, but needs at least six more to form a government. Avigdor Liberman, whose nationalist party won eight seats, will presumably play the role of kingmaker. Liberman has advocated for a unity government led by Netanyahu's conservative Likud party and Gantz's centrist Blue and White party, though he has also made it clear he won't support one if Netanyahu's ultra-Orthodox coalition partners remain involved. Gantz has also agreed to a unity government, in principle, but won't join while Netanyahu faces indictment over corruption charges, and like Liberman, he has also said he wants to form a coalition excluding ultra-Orthodox parties.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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