Israeli president meets parties as Netanyahu set to form govt

OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Israel´s president began talks with party leaders on Wednesday on the new governing coalition to be headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, after receiving official results of the November 1 election won by the veteran right-winger.

Such presidential consultations had been a source of intrigue after Israel´s four previous elections, as it was not immediately clear which leader would get the first shot at forming a coalition, or whether they would be successful.

But this month´s general election delivered a clear win for Netanyahu, who has served as prime minister longer than anyone else in Israel´s 74-year history. His right-wing Likud and its allies -- two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and the extreme-right Religious Zionism bloc -- won 64 of the 120 seats in parliament.

After a period of unprecedented political gridlock, that result has given Netanyahu the majority to form a stable governing coalition, which may also be the most right-wing in Israeli history.

President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday denied reports that he was working to bring Netanyahu´s rivals -- outgoing centrist Prime Minister Yair Lapid and defence minister Benny Gantz -- into a unity government that would sideline the controversial Jewish Power party leader, anti-Arab agitator Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“I have not worked, nor am I working, to push for the establishment of any particular government, and I am not involved in its composition or size,” Herzog said. “I leave that task to the political system, and to it alone.”

Herzog, who assumed Israel´s largely ceremonial presidency last year, was meeting first with envoys of Netanyhu´s Likud, the largest bloc in the new parliament, which will be sworn in next week. Representing Likud, lawmaker Miri Regev made clear the party intends for Netanyahu to “form a stable, right-wing government with a minimum four-year term.”