The political situation is still stalled in Israel. Neither party led in the legislative elections can form a coalition according to the almost final results of the poll issued Friday, September 20 by the electoral commission.

The centrist party Blue-white Benny Gantz won 33 seats, against 31 for the Likud outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the electoral commission, which said the final results would be given Wednesday. It remains to count the votes of 14 offices where irregularities were reported.

The third-largest formation from Tuesday's polls is the United Arab List, which won 13 seats, ahead of the 9-seat Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shass. The ultra-orthodox Ashkenazi party Yaadut Hatorah ("United Torah Judaism" in French) won 8 seats, including the secular nationalist Israel Beitenou formation of former minister Avigdor Lieberman. Then comes the radical right-wing list Yamina with 7 mandates, the Labor Party which gets 6 seats and the left list of the Democratic Camp with 5 seats.

Gantz rejects Netanyahu's offer

Benny Gantz's Blue White party on Thursday rejected the offer of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who proposed forming a national unity government under his leadership.

"We will not participate in a Netanyahu-led coalition," Moshe Yaalon, a member of the centrist leadership, said in the presence of Benny Gantz. The latter, on the other hand, proposed to form and direct a union government himself.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who is to hand over the task of forming the government to an elected representative after consulting all the parties in Parliament, will begin Sunday consultations.

With AFP