Likud spokesman says will build majority coalition in ‘a few days’ with defectors

Likud spokesperson Jonathan Urich says it will take “a few days” to form a coalition, with a parliamentary majority boosted by defectors from outside the right-wing bloc.

Likud has already spoken to “four to six” such potential recruits, Urich tells Channel 13 news.

Earlier he told Army Radio that he believes that “soon enough we’ll find the missing seats from the other bloc.”

“People on the other side understand it’s the right thing to do,” Urich says.

With 90% of votes counted, Likud and the right-wing bloc hold 59 seats, two short of a majority.

Blue and White MKs Yoaz Hendel, a former Netanyahu aide, and Zvi Hauser, a former cabinet secretary who also served under the Likud leader, on the right-wing flank of the party, are sometimes mentioned as potential defectors. The two were reportedly accused by Blue and White leader Benny Gantz of last year thwarting a bid to form a minority government bolstered by the predominantly Arab Joint List.

MK Orly Levy-Abekasis, who heads the Gesher faction in the Labor-Gesher-Meretz alliance, has also been tipped as a possibility to jump ship in return for a cabinet portfolio.