From NPR · · 1m 10s
Netanyahu loses mandate as Herzog picks Eisenkot
Israel's president has tapped opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to form a government instead of Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party won the most seats but failed to secure a majority.
In brief
Israel's president has tapped opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to form a government instead of Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party won the most seats but failed to secure a majority. Israel's president gave opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the mandate to form a government over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose…
Herzog picks Eisenkot over Netanyahu
Israel's president Isaac Herzog has tapped opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to form the next government, passing over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The mandate will be formally given at five p.m. local time on Sunday.
Likud won most seats but no majority
Netanyahu's Likud party won twenty-seven seats in last month's election, six more than Eisenkot's Yashar party. Neither party secured enough support to command a majority in Israel's one hundred twenty-seat parliament.
Eisenkot has twenty-eight days to build coalition
Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, will have twenty-eight days to put together a coalition government, with a possible fourteen-day extension. He needs sixty-one seats for a parliamentary majority.
The key point
Israel's president gave opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the mandate to form a government over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose party won the most seats but lacked a parliamentary majority.
