Israeli President Isaac Herzog has tasked opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming the country's next government, giving him the first chance to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Eisenkot, a former military chief who leads the centrist Yashar party, has 28 days to build a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension, the BBC reported. He received 67 recommendations from incoming Knesset members, compared with 46 for Netanyahu.
The math
No bloc won a majority in the 120-seat Knesset in the October election. Netanyahu's Likud and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies won 53 seats, while Eisenkot's bloc won 48. Two Arab-led alliances won a record 19 seats, which makes them potential kingmakers, though nearly all Jewish parties pledged not to govern with them.
Yashar won 21 seats, second to Likud's 27, DW reported. If Eisenkot fails, Herzog can pass the mandate to another lawmaker, expected to be Netanyahu, and a failure there could lead to another election.
What they said
"Now is the time to form a national emergency government," Eisenkot wrote on X. "We do not have the privilege of endless rounds of elections," he said after receiving the mandate.