Acting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unable to present a coalition government before midnight local time (21:59 GMT), when his term of office to do so expired after the March 23 elections, which The political blockade has been imposed on Israel for more than two years.

“Shortly before midnight, Netanyahu informed the president’s residence (Reuven Rivlin) that he could not form a government, and thus returned the mandate to the president,” the presidential office said in a statement.

Netanyahu did not ask for an additional 14 days, for that The Israeli president will be the key in the next three days to grant the mandate to another candidate, such as the centrist Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid party (There is a future), or hand over the task to the Israeli parliament (the Knesset).

Rivlin will contact the 13 parties that have seats in Parliament on Wednesday to discuss “continuing the government formation process,” according to a spokesperson for the head of state.

The current prime minister – who won the March 23 elections, but without a parliamentary majority – received a mandate 28 days ago to try to form a coalition, but After about a month, he did not achieve significant progress and did not gain the support of 61 deputies in a parliament of 120, which is the minimum required to govern.

Together with his party, Likud, its ultra-Orthodox partners – Shack and United Torah Judaism – and the hard-line right-wing Zionist party, it won only 52 seats, which is insufficient, and without being able to lure potential partners such as forming the far-right right-wing or Islamist Ramen party to join Into a complex coalition.

In the current situation, analysts and the media suggest that Rivlin can assign the task of forming the government to the center Yair Lapid, from Yesh Atid (There is a future), came second in the elections and was also the one who followed Netanyahu on recommendations for obtaining the mandate in the consultations between the president and political parties in early April.

Lapid – who does not have a clear majority – heads the Change Bloc, which is a combination of more than one Seven very diverse ideological formations That goes far right, center and left, but it is United in their opposition to Netanyahu.

However, extreme differences seem to be difficult to form an opposition coalition, because they require the support of at least one Arab party in addition to forming one or two extreme right-wing Zionist formations.

Another possible scenario is that Rivlin does not grant the mandate to any particular representative, but to the House of Representatives, allowing any Knesset member to attempt a majority within 21 days.

If none of these alternatives succeeded in extricating Israel from the political blockade, Your citizens may have to go to the polls againFor the fifth time two and a half years.

With information from AFP, AP, and EFE

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