What It Will Take for Israel to Avoid an Unprecedented 3rd Vote
What It Will Take for Israel to Avoid an Unprecedented 3rd Vote
By Yaacov Benmeleh
October 23, 2019, 7:41 AM EDT
Bloomberg
After former Israeli military chief Benny Gantz is assigned Wendesday night to put together the next government, he’ll have four weeks to try to complete that task and unseat longtime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Pressure is mounting to resolve the political impasse that has essentially paralyzed Israel politically since December despite two national elections.
Netanyahu failed twice in the past five months to build a governing coalition, and Gantz is also likely to struggle to corral a majority of parliament’s 120 lawmakers. If he, too, comes up short, that would probably send the country to yet another vote, a deeply unpopular prospect with no guarantee of breaking the current stalemate.
... Gantz and his Blue and White bloc may start pressuring Likud members to depose their leader to spare the country another election. He may also encourage some of them to defect so he could cobble together a majority with other, smaller factions...It’s an unpalatable and unlikely option because it would leave Gantz at the mercy of parties who have fundamentally different views on Israeli politics. The arrangement could easily fall apart over issues like national security and relations with the Palestinians.
Candidate, Unknown
If Gantz comes up empty, a majority of lawmakers could choose a third candidate they deem suited to end the gridlock. That’s never happened before. The last recourse would be another election in early 2020...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-23/what-it-will-take-for-israel-to-avoid-an-unprecedented-3rd-vote