Israel certifies election result as Herzog begins coalition talks
Israel’s Central Elections Committee certified the results of last week’s election on Wednesday, finding no evidence of fraud and rejecting claims from Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp that Arab-led parties had been “stealing” it. President Isaac Herzog, receiving the results in Jerusalem, began consultations on whom to invite to form a government, telling party leaders that “not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled” if they want to avoid another election.
Mr Netanyahu’s Likud and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies won 53 of the Knesset’s 120 seats on 27 October; Gadi Eisenkot’s centrist Yashar party and three other opposition parties won 48; and the two Arab-led alliances, the United Arab List and the Joint List, took an unprecedented 19 after a surge in Arab turnout, making them potential kingmakers even though all but one Jewish party pledged before the vote not to govern with them. The committee’s chairman, Justice Noam Sohlberg, said attempts “to cast doubt on the election results and to undermine their legitimacy” were “a real danger”; the Shin Bet is investigating allegations of foreign interference, which he said would not fundamentally change the outcome. Whoever Mr Herzog chooses has 28 days to build a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension. “I ask for originality and creativity, courage and goodwill, so that the State of Israel emerges the winner,” the president said. Mr Netanyahu’s allies are refusing to back the result.