The right-wing religious bloc backing interim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is urging President Reuven Rivlin to give the Likud leader a shot at forming a government, after Blue and White head Benny Gantz’s request for an extension to form a government was rejected.
In a statement, the heads of Likud, Shas, UTJ and Yamina call on Rivlin to “transfer the mandate to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has 59 recommendations — exactly like after the previous elections in September when you transferred the mandate to MK Benny Gantz when he had only 54 recommendations.”
Earlier Sunday, Rivlin said he would leave it to the Knesset to pick a candidate for prime minister should the sides fail to come together by Monday night, when Gantz’s mandate expires.
It’s unclear if Rivlin can legally transfer the mandate to Netanyahu, given his indictments in three criminal cases. Netanyahu was given the mandate first in the two previous rounds of elections, but was unable to cobble together a government. After the first attempt, he engineered the dissolution of the Knesset to keep Rivlin from being able to give the mandate to Gantz.
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Sunday, April 12, 2020
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