Joint List to vote on recommending Gantz as PM

The 13 elected members of the Joint List, a coalition of the four largest Arab-majority factions, will vote on whether to recommend Blue and White leader Benny Gantz as prime minister to President Reuven Rivlin, MK Mansour Abbas says.

“The result of the vote will determine whether we recommend him,” Abbas tells The Times of Israel, adding that the outcome of the vote will be binding on all of the Joint List factions.

Abbas, whose Ra’am faction is leaning in the direction of voting to recommend Gantz, adds that the decision will be known at 5:30 p.m., an hour before the Joint List is slated to meet Rivlin.

All parties elected to the Knesset are expected to meet with Rivlin today and tomorrow to tell him who they recommend to become prime minister. Rivlin will then decide which Knesset member he will grant a mandate to try to form a government.

Historically, presidents have usually given the candidate who receives the highest number of recommendations the mandate to attempt to put together a coalition, though by law he may task whichever lawmaker he believes has the best shot at doing so.

— Adam Rasgon