WATCH: Party reps meet with President Rivlin as coalition negotiations commence

President Reuven Rivlin began a series of meetings Monday with representatives of all the political parties voted into parliament in last week’s elections ahead of choosing who will form the next government.

Rivlin would appear to have little choice but to pick incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his party won the most seats in the April 9, vote leaving it best placed to form a coalition government.

Netanyahu’s Likud party, which won 36 seats, was the first to meet Rivlin on Monday morning. It is followed, in descending order, by each party according to how many seats it received. Blue and White, Shas, United Torah Judaism and Hadash-Taal representatives will meet with Rivlin on Monday while Labor, Yisrael Beytenu, the Union of Right Wing Parties, Meretz, Kulanu, and Ra’am-Balad will huddle with the president on Tuesday.

The consultations, broadcast live from Rivlin’s residence (in Hebrew), will take place over two days, during which members of each party will tell the president who they think should be tasked with forming the government — i.e., the next prime minister.

The president will assign the mission to the member of parliament who wins the support of at least 61 lawmakers, constituting a majority of the parliament’s 120 members.