President Isaac Herzog of Israel accepted the certified results of last week’s parliamentary election on Wednesday and began meeting party leaders to decide whom to task with forming the next government.
The steps undercut Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to discredit the Oct. 27 vote, in which he and his allies lost their majority in the 120-member Knesset while Arab-led parties made historic gains, Al Jazeera reported.
Parties led by Israel’s Arab minority won a combined 19 seats as Palestinian citizens of Israel voted in record numbers, many hoping to oust Mr. Netanyahu and far-right members of his coalition, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, NBC News reported. The final results left neither Mr. Netanyahu nor his rivals able to form a government immediately; in a 120-seat parliament, a coalition needs 61 votes behind it.
Mr. Herzog opened a series of sit-downs with political parties on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. Three factions, all aligned with Mr. Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist camp, were the first to meet him.
Once the consultations end, the president will hand one lawmaker the mandate to assemble a government, though with the results split as they are, there is no obvious candidate. “The elections are over. Now is the time to face reality,” Mr. Herzog said.