Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has secured sufficient political backing to form the next governing coalition in the 120-member parliament.
Netanyahu has the support of two ultra-Orthodox parties (16 seats); a union of far-right parties (5 seats); a right-wing secularist party (5 seats); and a center-right party (4 seats).
In Israel’s quirky parliamentary system, after elections are held all party chiefs hold consultations with the president, who, based on their recommendations, tasks the candidate best positioned to form a majority bloc with beginning negotiations to that end.
With Likud’s 35 mandates (according to final results released Tuesday), the coalition will therefore likely comprise 65 parliamentarians.
The Media Line spoke with Dr. Amir Fuchs, head of the Defending Democratic Values Program at the Israel Democracy Institute, who explained the political happenings of the last two days and what lies ahead for Netanyahu.
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