Herzog to name on Sunday who must try to form Israel’s next government
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will announce on Sunday, 8 November, whom he will task with trying to form the country’s next government, after completing post-election talks with all party leaders. The consultations produced a clear numerical split among parliament members: 46 recommended that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be given the mandate, while 67 backed his opponent Gadi Eisenkot. Seven lawmakers abstained and did not recommend either man.
The president’s choice is therefore not a simple reflection of a single bloc’s size. Eisenkot has more recommenders than Netanyahu, yet Herzog still has to weigh those numbers against who is actually able to assemble a working majority and then name the person he will ask to try. The announcement is scheduled for 8 November, leaving a short interval between the end of the talks and the public decision on who must attempt to form a cabinet.
For readers outside Israel, the sequence is the constitutional hinge after an election: party leaders state whom they prefer, the president hears them, and only then is someone formally tasked with forming a government. The figures that define this round are 46 for Netanyahu, 67 for Eisenkot, and seven abstentions. Until Sunday’s announcement, it remains open which of the two recommended candidates — or, in principle, whom Herzog selects on the basis of those talks — will receive the assignment.
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