President Herzog Receives Israel's Official Election Results and Opens Coalition Consultations, Smallest Parties First
Jerusalem, Israel — Justice Noam Sohlberg, who chairs Israel's Central Elections Committee, formally presented the final results of the October 27 election to President Isaac Herzog on November 4, and Herzog began coalition consultations the same day with the parties elected to the 26th Knesset at the President's Residence in Jerusalem.
Under the schedule released by the president's office, the consultations opened at 5 p.m. on November 4 in an unusual order — from the smallest factions to the largest. Religious Zionism-Zehut went first, followed that evening by Shas and Yisrael Beytenu. On November 5 Herzog is to meet United Torah Judaism and Otzma Yehudit, then the Democrats and Ra'am, with the Joint List, BeYachad, Yashar and Likud last. Herzog said he wanted to hear every party, encouraged fresh thinking, and hopes to avoid another election.
Final results published on October 30 gave Likud 27 seats and Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar 21. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc holds 53 seats, the opposition bloc 48, and Arab-led parties 19, leaving no camp with the 61 seats needed to form a government in the 120-member Knesset. The elections committee also said its review of party complaints, covering 9,069 polling stations, found no evidence of fraud or manipulation and that the results accurately reflect the voters' will.
Five opposition parties agreed on November 3 to jointly recommend Eisenkot, a former military chief, to form the government, and Arab parties are also expected to back him. Once the consultations end, Herzog will task one lawmaker with forming a government; that lawmaker will have 28 days, with a possible presidential extension of up to 14 days. The new Knesset is scheduled to be sworn in on November 10.
Related: Five Israeli Opposition Parties Agree to Jointly Recommend Eisenkot to Form Government
Related: Israel's Two Arab Parties to Recommend Eisenkot, Taking His Support to 67 Seats
Source: Associated Press
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：以色列总统 Isaac Herzog（2025年1月资料图）。CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Israeli President Isaac Herzog (file photo, January 2025). CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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