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Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Sunday that his parliamentary bloc will recommend to President Isaac Herzog that the leader of the "Yashar" party, Gadi Eisenkot, be tasked with the mission of forming the next government, a move that boosts the latter's chances of receiving the first mandate to form the government.
The "Ma'an" party, led by Bennett, said in a statement that the decision was made under the direction of the party leader.
The statement confirmed that Bennett had pledged throughout the election campaign to respect the voters' decision, and that he is honoring this pledge by supporting Eisenkot.
It added that Bennett informed Eisenkot of his decision.
In a related context, Israel's Channel 12 reported that the "Democrats" party, led by Yair Golan, intends to recommend tasking Eisenkot with forming the government during the upcoming consultations with the Israeli president, though no official announcement has been issued by Golan regarding this matter.
These developments come amid efforts by Israeli opposition parties to unify their stance on the person they will recommend to form the government following the parliamentary elections, at a time when Benjamin Netanyahu's camp is still seeking to secure a majority that would allow him to return to the premiership.
The Israeli president is scheduled to hold consultations with party representatives to determine the person who will be tasked with forming the government, in accordance with the election results and the recommendations to be presented by the parliamentary blocs.
The 26th Knesset elections were held last Tuesday, and their final results, officially published by the Israeli Central Elections Committee on Friday, resulted in the "Likud" party led by Benjamin Netanyahu winning 27 seats, compared to 21 seats for the "Yashar" party led by Gadi Eisenkot, 12 seats for the "Ma'an" party led by Naftali Bennett, and 8 seats for the "Democrats" party led by Yair Golan, while the Joint List won 11 seats and the "Ra'am" party won 8 seats.
Thus, the camp supporting Netanyahu obtained 53 seats, compared to 48 seats for the opposition parties and 19 seats for the Arab parties, without either camp being able to reach the required majority of 61 out of 120 seats needed to form a government.
The voter turnout reached 77.9 percent.
The Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, is scheduled to hand over the official results to Israeli President Isaac Herzog on November 4, so that the latter can begin his consultations with representatives of the winning blocs and parties on the same day, to hear their recommendations on the person who should be tasked with forming the government.
The law grants the person tasked with this mission an initial period of 28 days to form the government, with the possibility of extending it for an additional 14 days.
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