After Eisenkot floats forming minority government, Liberman says he won’t sit in one

Avigdor Liberman, chair of the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party, rules out joining a minority governing coalition, a prospect floated by opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot.

Last week, Eisenkot said that if the bloc of Jewish parties opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives 52 to 58 seats in the Knesset following the upcoming election, they could form a coalition that “will decide to deal only with issues that have very broad national consensus.”

Such a government would potentially be approved in the Knesset via the support or abstention of majority Arab parties.

Polls have consistently shown that neither the pro- nor anti-Netanyahu bloc is slated to win a 61-seat majority in the Knesset, raising the possibility of a minority government running the country.

But Liberman, whose party is part of the anti-Netanyahu bloc, rules that possibility out in an interview with Army Radio this morning.

“First of all, when it comes to 58 seats, there won’t be a minority government,” Liberman says. “I won’t be there.”

Polls show Liberman winning around 10 seats in the October election, making it unlikely for Eisenkot to form a minority government without his participation.