Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday evening officially tasked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with forming a new government.
President Rivlin wrote in a letter sent to Prime Minister Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Benny Gantz: “According to the request of a majority of Knesset members… I hereby inform you that you have a period of 14 days to form a government”.
Netanyahu will now have 14 days to put together a government, or the Knesset will automatically be dissolved and a fourth consecutive round of elections will be held.
This comes after faction representatives today presented Presiden Rivlin with the signatures of 72 Knesset members who recommended Prime Minister Netanyahu be tasked with forming a emergency national unity government.
The new unity government, which will include Netanyahu’s Likud party and Gantz’s Blue and White, is expected to be sworn in on 13th May.
Israeli Knesset Members today voted to approve a unity government deal between incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and the Blue and White alliance, led by Benny Gantz. This sends more than a year of political deadlock in Israel, where three elections have taken place.
Israel’s Knesset backed the coalition deal by 71 votes to 37, a statement said, with the two men expected to swear-in the power-sharing government next week.
The right-wing Yamina party, which has not yet signed up to the coalition agreement, did not show up for the vote, and neither did Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman.
The Knesset also passed a raft of legislative changes to the country’s semi-constitutional Basic Laws, paving the way for a government to be established.
Legislation enshrining the new government came after Israel’s High Court of Justice unanimously rejected all petitions late Wednesday filed against Netanyahu, who is currently indicted on multiple corruption charges, from being permitted to sit as head of the government.
After lengthy deliberations, a panel of 11 judges ruled that the indictments issued against Netanyahu do not prevent him from forming a government citing parliamentary support and the results of March election.
The High Court added that by approving the coalition it “was not seeking to diminish the severity of the charges” against Netanyahu, but concluded that those could be handled at his trial, which is due to begin on 24th May.
In its first months, the new government plans to focus on the COVID-19 response.
