Benny Gantz must form government before midnight or Israel will revote

Candidate Benny Gantz, the Blue-White training leader, at a conference of regional advisers in Kiryat Anavim, February 26, 2020. REUTERS / Ronen Zvulun

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President Reuven Rivlin has not given candidate Benny Gantz a new deadline to form a government and he expires at 11:59 p.m. Monday April 13. The specter of elections is once again raised in the Hebrew state in the midst of an epidemic of coronavirus.

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With our correspondent in Jerusalem, Michel Paul

The Israeli president has issued a real ultimatum to the two protagonists in the race to form a government. Reuven Rivlin announced on Sunday that he was not renewing the deadline for Benny Gantz to form a coalition . But at the same time, he suggests that he will not task outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with this task.

In other words, if the negotiations do not succeed by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament , will have to find in the space of three weeks a deputy able to receive the confidence of the absolute majority of bedroom. And at present, no political bloc can claim such a majority.

But that's not all. President Rivlin also presented the two potential candidates with a timetable for failure within the next few hours: dissolution of Parliament on May 4 and proclamation of legislative elections on July 28 - the fourth in just over a year . In the midst of a coronavirus epidemic , this is generally believed to be a catastrophic scenario.

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  • Israel
  • Benyamin netanyahu

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