Israeli President Reuven Rivlin announced that he will give tomorrow, Monday, the leader of the "Blue and White" coalition, Benny Gantz, the opportunity to try to form the next government, after receiving the support of 61 deputies, the minimum for forming the government in the 120-seat Knesset.
"Tomorrow at midday, the president will be assigned the task of forming the government for a blue and white leader, Benny Gantz," the Israeli president's office said in a statement on Sunday.
Rivlin added that, given the gravity of the situation caused by the new Corona virus, he wanted to avoid the continuation of the political deadlock and seeing Israel form a government "as soon as possible."
There are no guarantees that the forces that announced support for Gantz will agree to the terms of the alliance, which has proven impossible after inconclusive elections last year.
Gideon Rahat, a political analyst at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told Agence France Presse that President Rivlin may try to "pressure both sides to urge them to form a unity government," despite Gantz's support of the majority.
Support for two friendly opponents
The leader of "Blue and White" won the support of the center-left coalition, the Arab Joint List, and the secular nationalist "Israel Our Home" party.
The joint Arab list, which is today the third force in parliament, does not combine with 15 seats, and the leader of the "Israel Our Home" party, Avigdor Lieberman, who is anti-Netanyahu, has almost no common ground.
Leader of the Joint List coalition, Ayman Odeh, supported candidate Gantz, and said in a televised meeting with President Rivlin, that the voters supporting the list said "no" to the right-wing government led by Netanyahu.
As for Lieberman, he said during his meeting with Gantz, "We support Benny Gantz for a very simple reason ... We said in the previous elections that the most important thing is to prevent the holding of a fourth election."
The Netanyahu coalition, which is considered more coherent, includes the right-wing Likud party and its allies, right-wing and hard-line religious parties.
Both opponents, Netanyahu and Gantz, had previously expressed support for forming a unity government to counter the new virus, and the former called for a six-month unity government led by him, but Gantz criticized the way Netanyahu made his offer.
On Sunday, the Jerusalem District Court postponed the first session of the start of the Netanyahu trial, which was scheduled for Tuesday, due to the outbreak of the Corona virus.
Netanyahu is the first Israeli prime minister to stand trial while still in power, facing charges of corruption, embezzlement of funds and breach of trust in three cases.