Photo by Kobi Gideon / GPO
By Marney Blom
Whoa. Not so fast …
This is Israel, remember. Winning an election doesn’t automatically make one the next prime minister – especially with 39 parties represented.
Added to that – by the time the votes were officially tallied last night, the newly formed Blue and White party, lead by military general turned politician Benny Gantz, had tied Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party with 35 out of a possible 120 seats, each.
Most Israelis, however, voted for the right-wing bloc parties which will give Netanyahu the advantage he needs to beat out Ganz to win the mandate to form a coalition.
Israeli president Reuvin Rivlin is expected to ask the incumbent PM to start that process prior to Passover, at which point he’ll have an initial 28 days to cobble together a government from the winners of the elections. This being the Middle East, one can expect a lot of backroom dealings, even blackmail in the process.
If he succeeds, Benjamin Netanyahu will make Israeli history by surpassing David Ben Gurion as the longest-serving Israeli prime minister. With an indictment of corruption hanging over his head, however, battling for his political carer is far from over. If convicted, his prime ministership could be curtailed within a year.
Marney Blom is news director for the Acts News Network.
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