JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s two main political
parties were deadlocked Wednesday after an unprecedented repeat
election, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing an uphill battle
to hold on to his job.
The election’s
seeming political kingmaker, Avigdor Lieberman, said he’ll insist upon a
secular unity government between Netanyahu’s Likud and Benny Gantz’s
Blue and White parties, who based on partial results are currently tied
at 32 seats each out of the 120 in parliament.
Without
Lieberman’s endorsement, both parties appear to have fallen well short
of securing a parliamentary majority with their prospective ideological
allies.
With
results still pouring in, Lieberman insisted the overall picture was
unlikely to change. He also demanded a secular “liberal” government
shorn of the religious and ultra-Orthodox allies the prime minister has
long relied upon.
“The conclusion is clear,
everything we said throughout the campaign is coming true,” he said
outside his home in the West Bank settlement of Nokdim. “There is one
and only option: a national unity government that is broad and liberal
and we will not join any other option.”
That could spell serious trouble for the continuation of Netanyahu’s lengthy rule.
Gantz,
a former military chief, has ruled out sitting with a Netanyahu-led
Likud at a time when the prime minister is expected to be indicted on
corruption charges in the coming weeks. It raised the specter of an
alternate Likud candidate rising to challenge Netanyahu, though most of
its senior officials have thus far pledged to stand solidly behind their
leader.
Netanyahu, the longest serving leader is
Israeli history, had desperately sought an outright majority with his
hard-line and ultra-Orthodox allies in hopes of passing legislation to
give him immunity from his expected indictment.
Israel’s
attorney general has recommended charging Netanyahu with bribery, fraud
and breach of trust in three scandals, pending a long-awaited hearing
scheduled in the coming weeks. A formal indictment would increase the
pressure on Netanyahu to step aside if he does not have immunity.
The
partial results released Wednesday by the Central Election Commission
were based on a tally of 56% of the potential electorate. Overall
turnout was 69.4%.
According to the partial
results, Likud with its natural allies of religious and
ultra-nationalist parties mustered just 56 seats — or five short of the
needed majority.
Gantz’s
Blue and White and its center-left allies garnered 55 seats, placing
Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu and its nine seats in the middle as the
deciding factor.
The only precedent for a
unity government in Israel came after the 1984 election and saw a
rotating premiership between the heads of the two largest parties.
The
joint list of Arab parties, who have never sat in an Israeli
government, also finished strong, with results indicating they had
earned 12 seats to become the third-largest party in parliament. Should a
unity government be formed, its leader Ayman Odeh, would become the
country’s next opposition leader, an official state position that would
grant him an audience with visiting dignitaries, a state-funded
bodyguard, monthly consultations with the prime minister and a platform
to rebut his speeches in parliament.
Addressing
his supporters early Wednesday, Netanyahu refused to concede defeat and
vowed to form a new government that excludes Arab parties, continuing
his campaign rhetoric of questioning the loyalty of the country’s Arab
minority — a strategy that drew accusations of racism and incitement.
“There
neither will be nor can there be a government that relies on
anti-Zionist Arab parties. Parties that reject the very existence of
Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Parties that vaunt and praise
bloodthirsty terrorists who murder our soldiers, citizens and children,”
he said.
In his first comments Wednesday
morning outside his home, Gantz said he had already begun working toward
forming a “unity government” but urged patience until the final results
were announced, likely on Thursday.
Focus
will then shift toward Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, who is tasked
with selecting the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a
stable coalition. Rivlin is to consult with all parties in the coming
days before making his decision. Lieberman’s recommendation will carry a
lot of weight regarding who will be tapped as the prime minister
designate.
The candidate would then have up
to six weeks to form a coalition. If that fails, Rivlin could give
another candidate for prime minister 28 days to form a coalition. And if
that doesn’t work, new elections would be triggered yet again. Rivlin
has said he will do everything possible to avoid such a scenario and
Lieberman has ruled it out as well.
Lieberman’s
primary stated goal is to push out what he sees as the excessive power
of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and have wide a coalition that can
effectively tackle Israel’s most pressing security and economic
challenges. But Netanyahu accused his former ally of plotting to oust
him from office out of personal spite.
Behind
the two is decades of a roller-coaster relationship. Lieberman, once
Netanyahu’s chief of staff, has held a series of senior Cabinet posts
and was often a staunch partner. But he’s has also been a rival, critic
and thorn in Netanyahu’s side.
The
Moldovan-born Lieberman started as a top Netanyahu aide in the 1990s
before embarking on a political career of his own as a nationalist
hard-liner and champion of immigrants like the former Soviet Union like
himself. But he resigned last year as defense minister because Netanyahu
kept blocking his plans to strike hard against Gaza militants.
Lieberman
passed up the chance to return to the post following April’s election,
refused to join Netanyahu’s emerging coalition and forcing the do-over
vote. Assuming he sticks to his guns this time as well, Netanyahu could
be done as Israel’s prime minister.
Liberman is now “the linchpin,” wrote Nahum Barnea, a prominent columnist in the Yediot Ahronot daily.
“I
don’t think that anyone is prepared to risk a third election, not even
for Netanyahu,” Barnea added. “Maybe the time has come to say goodbye.”
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