There have been three parliamentary elections in Israel since April 2019 - but the formation of a government simply does not want to succeed. Another deadline has now passed.
Tel Aviv (dpa) - Another deadline for forming a government has passed in Israel. The negotiating teams of opposition candidate Benny Gantz and right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a grand coalition of blue-and-white and Likud.
Now the mandate to form a government should go to Parliament. This means that every member of parliament - including Gantz and Netanyahu - can try to find the support of 61 of the 120 parliamentarians within 21 days.
After that, he has another two weeks to form a coalition. If this fails, Israel will have to vote for the fourth time since April 2019. However, according to Israeli media reports, the negotiating team meeting continued after the deadline.
On the night of Tuesday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin extended the deadline for forming a government for opposition candidate Gantz by another 48 hours. Both Gantz vom Mitte-Bündnis Blau-Weiß and Netanyahu supported the request. Both had announced the intention of forming a large coalition of blue and white and Netanyahu's Likud.
Israel has been governed by a transitional government under Netanyahu since late 2018. On March 2, citizens voted for a new parliament for the third time in a year. Again, there was no clear winner, but Gantz was asked to form a government because of more recommendations from MPs. Against the background of the Corona crisis, he is striving for a grand coalition with Netanyahu, although he is accused of corruption in three cases. In protest, however, part of his alliance has split off from blue and white.