Why Israel's Coalition Math Now Runs Through Eisenkot, and the Clock That Decides It

Israel's president has handed the first chance at forming the next government to the opposition, not to Benjamin Netanyahu. President Isaac Herzog said Saturday that Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief who ran as Netanyahu's main challenger, will get the first opportunity to assemble a governing coalition after the October 27 election, according to the Los Angeles Times. The formal mandate ceremony was set for Sunday at the president's residence in Jerusalem. The designation is a procedural step, not a government. Under Israeli practice, the leader tasked with forming a coalition needs 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, and Eisenkot will have 28 days to find them, with a possible 14-day extension before the mandate passes to someone else, as RFI reported. If neither side succeeds, the country heads to fresh elections — an outcome Israelis know well, having held five elections between 2019 and 2022 over repeated deadlocks.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.