Israeli President Réouven Rivlin will ask Benny Gantz to form a government on Monday, the presidency announced on Sunday March 15, two weeks after legislative elections that had not allowed his rival Benjamin Netanyahu to win a majority in the Knesset. .
Earlier today, President Rivlin had summoned the two men to discuss "Emergency" of the formation of a government, having failed to decide between the two rivals. But the urgency to organize the fight against the epidemic due to the coronavirus has undoubtedly played, in a country where 200 cases of infected people have been identified.
According to an Agence France-Presse count, the centrist Benny Gantz garnered the support of 61 deputies on Sunday, the threshold required to form a government, after Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the secular nationalist right-wing Israel Beitenou, l recommended to the President.
Netanyahu called for a government of national unity
Rivlin, in charge of designating the person to constitute the next ministerial team, met Sunday with representatives of the parties elected to the legislative elections on March 2, to let them know their favorite candidate. The United List of Israeli Arab Parties, the third force in parliament, also recommended it.
Netanyahu, who was missing three votes to reach the threshold of 61 MPs, has repeatedly called for the formation of an emergency government and national unity, under his leadership. But after the previous elections in April and September 2019, Mr. Gantz refused to enter a government led by Mr. Netanyahu because he is charged with embezzlement and breach of trust in three cases.
His trial, which was due to start on Tuesday, has been postponed for two months, "In view of the spread of the coronavirus and according to the instructions limiting the work of the courts", the Jerusalem court announced on Sunday.
