President will initiate consultations for new government in Israel

O President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, today accepted the certified election results of October 27 and announced that he will begin consultations with the parties for the formation of a new government.

Neither the party led by the Prime Minister's party, Benjamin Netanyahu, nor that of the main adversary, former chief of the armed forces Gadi Eisenkot, achieved an absolute majority in Parliament (Knesset).

Herzog is expected to host the representatives of the various parties who will be represented in the Knesset on Thursday.

After two days of consultations, Herzog will appoint the candidate he considers best position to form a coalition government, starting weeks of negotiations.

“ In the current reality, without a clear winner after the elections, I ask for originality and creativity, courage and goodwill”, said Herzog, quoted by the French agency AFP.

The parties “have to understand that they will not be able to meet all commitments and all promises” of campaign, warned the head of state.

Herzog added, however, that he does not ask “anyone to renounce their fundamental values”.

Herzog's announcement followed the statement by the Electoral Commission, also released today, that it did not find any evidence of fraud in the vote, giving a blow to Netanyahu's attempts to discredit the results.

Netanyahu and supporters had made repeated unfounded allegations that Arab majority parties would have stolen the elections, eventually with external support.

The results showed that Netanyahu's religious-nationalist bloc lost the parliamentary majority, while Arab majority parties made strong gains.

“The analysis found no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected the results,” determined the commission in a statement quoted by the US agency AP.

The results “precisely reflect the choices that voters made in the polls,” said interim director of the election committee, Dean Livne.

According to a spokesman for the election committee, a parallel investigation of the Shin Bet information service on allegations of foreign interference is still under way.

The election committee pointed out that although suspicions that foreign actors may have tried to influence the vote are serious, it does not consider that this possible interference has changed the outcome of the elections.

“ Our position is that, even if suspicions are confirmed, this would not undermine the integrity of the electoral process or the results of the election as a whole,” said the committee chairman, Supreme Court Judge Noam Sohlberg, on Sunday.