JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday began trying to cobble together a coalition government amid political deadlock that emerged from this month's repeat elections, which had no clear winner.
He has up to six weeks to attempt to resolve the political impasse, but his odds appear slim. Even with the support of smaller allies, both Netanyahu and his main challenger, Blue and White party leader and former army chief Benny Gantz, lack the support for the required 61-seat parliamentary majority needed to establish a government. That includes the support of Netanyahu's traditional ultra-Orthodox and religious-nationalist allies.
On Thursday, the parties were jockeying before a Friday meeting by their negotiating teams, with each side blaming the other for the stalemate.
"There are no rabbits in the hat. There are no tricks. There is no option" other than unity, said Zeev Elkin, a lawmaker with Netanyahu's Likud party. He told Israeli Army Radio that if Blue and White "continues to rule out Netanyahu on a personal basis and continues to rule out certain parties from sitting in that same unity government, at the end we may head to elections for a third time."
Blue and White wants Gantz to lead any unity government and refuses to sit in a coalition with Netanyahu so long as he faces likely indictment for a series of corruption scandals. Blue and White also objects to sitting with the right-wing and religious bloc that Netanyahu says he will bring into any government he forms.
President Reuven Rivlin selected Netanyahu on Wednesday as the candidate with the best chance of forming a government. That move came after Rivlin failed to broker a unity government between Netanyahu and Gantz. A unity government appears to be the preferred option for both sides, but they remain far apart on what such a constellation would look like.
According to final results from the Sept. 17 elections, Blue and White finished first with 33 seats in the 120-seat parliament, just ahead of Netanyahu's Likud with 32 seats.
Neither side can form a government without the eight seats held by former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who supports bringing the two main parties into a unity government shorn of Netanyahu's traditional allies. Netanyahu has welcomed a unity government but has insisted on one that includes his right-wing partners.
If Netanyahu fails to form a government before time runs out, Rivlin can ask Gantz to try. If he too does not succeed, Rivlin can select another legislator or he can set in motion what would be unprecedented third elections.
Looming large over the political jostling are Netanyahu's legal woes. Israel's attorney general has recommended charging Netanyahu with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a series of scandals and the embattled leader is set to appear at a hearing next week on the charges. The likelihood of an indictment is high and it could be handed down within weeks. Although Netanyahu is not required by Israeli law to step down if charged, he will face heavy pressure to do so.
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