Netanyahu gets most support after Lapid, Bennett fail to close deal

Yamina, Yesh Atid banking on PM not building coalition

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received more endorsements to form the next government than Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid on Monday, making it likely that he will receive the first mandate from President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday.

In Rivlin’s consultations with the 13 factions in the new Knesset that will be sworn in on Tuesday, 52 MKs from four factions recommended Netanyahu, while 45 from five factions recommended Lapid. Yamina recommended its leader, Naftali Bennett; New Hope and the two Arab factions didn’t recommend anyone.

The decision by Yamina and New Hope not to recommend Lapid was aimed at obtaining the mandate from Rivlin for Bennett after Netanyahu fails to form a government during the 28 days he would receive from Rivlin.

The refusal of the Religious Zionist Party to join a coalition backed by Ra’am (United Arab List) will make it very difficult for Netanyahu to build a coalition.

Meanwhile, Yamina and Yesh Atid have started negotiating a unity government deal in which Bennett would serve as prime minister the first two years and Lapid the final two and a half years. Yamina’s negotiating team is led by strategists Tal Gan-Zvi and Shalom Shlomo, and Yesh Atid’s by veteran Lapid adviser Hillel Kubrinsky.

The two sides did not reach an agreement on how to share power and divide portfolios in initial talks, which prevented an agreement from being reached in time for Monday’s consultations with Rivlin.

“We need a government of national agreement,” Lapid said in a speech on social media on Monday night. “I offered my friend Naftali Bennett the opportunity to form a government with me that will include the spectrum of Israeli politics – parties from the Right, Center and Left – and that will reflect the fact that we live here together.”