Israel has seen a closely fought election twice this year, with no one party being able to form a coalition to govern the country. Arab Joint List who have managed to win 13 seats in the recent elections have backed former military chief, Benny Gantz to form a government.
Incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu is the longest-serving Prime Minister of Israel. He had failed to secure a working majority in the April elections leading the country to vote once again in September. The result had again failed to impress as Netanyahu has to again try to garner support from other parties to back his government.
Gantz’s centre-left Blue and White Party had managed to win the most seats by a single party with 33 seats while Netanyahu’s Likud had managed to secure 32 seats. According to a report in the Dawn, the Arab Parties had backed Gantz to oust Netanyahu. The run-up to the elections had seen political rhetoric by the Prime Minister which was on lines of racism. It is the first time since 1992 that the Arab parties had decided to back a candidate for the Prime Ministership.
Avigdor Liberman, the former defence minister and his party managed to secure eight seats. His endorsement of any of the two candidates, Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu would put an end to the current coalition saga. Liberman has openly said that he would back a Unity Government between the Blue and White Party and Likud. Pegged as the kingmaker, Liberman had made clear that he would not support Netanyahu as he had attempted to form a coalition with the ultra-orthodox parties.
Benny Gantz, who has been called to form a Unity government with Netanyahu has been critical of the current Prime Minister. This would mean that only an offer of the prime ministership will be able to sway his support. If no one can gain a working coalition, Israel would see itself going under elections again, a situation that the current president would like to avoid.