Israeli President Isaac Herzog has given opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a government, a mandate that gives him six weeks to assemble a coalition capable of unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The mandate was granted on Sunday evening.
Eisenkot, an opposition politician, will now have to build a parliamentary majority in a short window. The reporting does not make clear how many potential partners he has so far, and it is uncertain whether he can secure enough coalition partners to reach that majority within the deadline.
The move places the opposition at the centre of the next step in Israel's government formation process. Under the arrangement described in the reporting, the president first offers the mandate to a candidate he believes may be able to form a government, and that candidate then has a limited period to attempt it. Should Eisenkot fail to assemble a coalition in six weeks, the question of who leads the next government would remain open.
The stated objective of the effort is to replace Netanyahu, who currently heads the government. Reporting from Jerusalem by FRANCE 24 correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky frames the development as the opposition's first formal opportunity to attempt that change through the coalition process, rather than as a completed transfer of power.
For now, the decision leaves Israeli politics in a period of negotiation, with the outcome dependent on whether Eisenkot can draw together parties that have been brought together under the goal of removing the prime minister.
Source: france24.com
3
