Receiving official election results, Herzog to hand out mandate to form government Sunday

President Isaac Herzog has officially been given the results of last week’s national election and will confer with party leaders in the coming days, his office says.

“I plan to conclude the advisory process by Friday and task [an MK] with forming a government this coming Sunday,” Herzog says.

The president is all but certain to give the job to Netanyahu, whose bloc won a decisive victory at the polls.

“Alongside a lively and necessary political debate,” Herzog says, “we must not under any circumstances give up our togetherness. The responsibility belongs to all of us, but in the political realm it is first and foremost that of all sides of parliament and its factions.”

Herzog adds that he believes in a unity government but is not pushing for one, and will leave the matter “to the political system alone.”