By Gil Hoffman, JPost—
rime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been given the chance to form a government for the sixth time on Wednesday, after succeeding in his five terms in office but not having the opportunity to do so following the April election.
President Reuven Rivlin formally gave Netanyahu four weeks to form the government, after a meeting at the President’s Residence with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz failed to bring about a breakthrough. The deadline will be October 24.
“Netanyahu had the best chance to form a government,” Rivlin said in a speech alongside the prime minister.
A Channel 12 poll broadcast Wednesday night found that the public prefers Netanyahu go first in a rotation with Gantz. But to avoid another election, a majority of respondents would like to see Likud replace Netanyahu with another candidate.
The survey of 700 respondents representing a statistical sample of the population was taken by pollster Camille Fuchs. The margin of error was 4%.
Rivlin said he gave the mandate to Netanyahu, because he received 55 recommendations from MKs, compared to Gantz’s 54. He called upon parties to stop disqualifying each other and lamented that a unity government was not formed. Continue Reading…