President Herzog to begin coalition consultations with smallest parties — Jerusalem Post
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will begin consultations on Wednesday with the factions elected to the 26th Knesset on forming a new government. Unlike previous rounds of coalition negotiations, the meetings will begin with the smallest parties and conclude with consultations with the largest forces — Yashar and Likud, The Jerusalem Post reports.
New order of meetings
The President's Office explained that this order is intended to “encourage thinking outside the box.” Herzog will first be able to consider a broader range of possible coalition configurations before holding consultations with the larger factions.
The meetings will begin on Wednesday at 17:00 with representatives of Religious Zionism–Zehut. On the same day, the president will also hold consultations with the Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu parties. On Thursday, he will meet representatives of United Torah Judaism, Otzma Yehudit, the Democrats, Ra'am, the Joint List and Beyachad.
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After that, Herzog will receive representatives of Yashar, led by Gadi Eisenkot, and at 20:30 he will hold the final meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.
Recommendations for the president
During the consultations, each faction will be able to recommend a Knesset member who should be tasked with forming the next government. The number of recommendations matters, but the president is not obliged to choose the candidate with the greatest support: he must determine which lawmaker has the best chances of forming a coalition.
After the October 27 election, neither Likud nor Yashar has a straightforward path to a 61-seat majority. Under the Basic Law: The Government, the candidate who receives the mandate will have 28 days to form a cabinet. The president may extend this period by a maximum of 14 more days. Herzog also did not rule out holding a second round of consultations. The meetings will be broadcast on the president's official social media accounts.
