On Receipt of Official Vote Tabulation, Israeli President Urges Unity

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has again urged the leaders of the country’s two largest parties to form a unity government after an official count of the vote in last week’s election – the third in less than a year – showed clear signs of yet another deadlock. “I did not believe there was another way” in September, after the last vote, “and today the situation has not changed much,” he said upon being presented with the final tabulation at his official residence in Jerusalem. Rivlin, whose functions are largely ceremonial, has the responsibility of presenting an official mandate to one party leader or another to try and form a coalition following an election. The Likud party of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was the largest vote-getter last week, although calculations clearly show he is unable to establish the right-wing government he would prefer. He is also under indictment for corruption, with his trial to begin next week. His chief rival, the centrist Benny Gantz, has a slight chance to form a so-called minority government, although such coalitions are generally frowned upon.