Israeli President Isaac Herzog will begin meeting with representatives of the newly elected Knesset factions on Wednesday as the process of determining who will receive the mandate to form Israel’s next government gets underway, with uncertainty surrounding the recommendations of several parties and the possibility that United Torah Judaism will decline to endorse any candidate.

The President’s Office announced Sunday that formal invitations had been sent to the political factions that secured seats in last week’s Knesset election. The consultations will help Herzog determine which lawmaker has the strongest prospect of assembling a governing coalition capable of securing the confidence of the Knesset.

Eyal Shviki, director general of the President’s Office, sent the invitations to party representatives, formally launching the next stage of the political process following the October 27 election.

In his communication to the factions, Shviki conveyed Herzog’s expectation that party representatives approach the discussions with flexibility and a genuine willingness to reach a workable political arrangement. The president is seeking to avoid another election and the additional political uncertainty that would accompany it.

Herzog has also directed that the consultations be broadcast live, allowing Israelis to follow the recommendations and explanations presented by each faction.

The discussions come as the political parties maneuver to determine who will be given the first opportunity to establish a coalition, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot emerging as the principal figures around whom the recommendations are expected to center.

The right-wing parties are expected to recommend Netanyahu, while the Yashar party and the Democrats are expected to endorse Eisenkot.

The positions of Yisrael Beytenu and the Together party, however, remain uncertain, potentially complicating the calculations over which candidate will receive the greatest number of recommendations.

Another significant question concerns United Torah Judaism, whose representatives are weighing whether to withhold their recommendation altogether.

On Sunday evening, UTJ MKs Yaakov Asher, Yitzhak Goldknopf, and Meir Porush were discussing the party’s position ahead of the presidential consultations.

Should UTJ decide not to recommend a candidate, the move would represent a departure from the expected endorsements by other parties and could affect the political picture presented to Herzog as he evaluates the competing claims to the premiership.

A decision to abstain from recommending Netanyahu would not necessarily mean that UTJ has ruled out joining a government led by him. The recommendation process and subsequent coalition negotiations are separate stages, and parties may ultimately support arrangements different from those suggested during the initial consultations.

The possibility of a UTJ abstention comes against the backdrop of a difficult election for the chareidi parties, which failed to match their previous electoral performance.

The reduced strength of the chareidi factions has added another complication to coalition-building efforts, particularly as the parties weigh their negotiating positions and the implications of joining a government that may face contentious questions involving yeshiva funding, the military draft, and the relationship between religious institutions and the state.

The consultation process is prescribed by Israel’s Basic Law: The Government. Following an election, the president meets with representatives of the factions elected to the Knesset and considers their recommendations before selecting a member of Knesset to attempt to form a government.

Although the number of recommendations received by a candidate is an important consideration, the president is not automatically required to select the lawmaker who receives the most endorsements. The central question is which candidate appears most capable of putting together a coalition.

Under Israeli law, the lawmaker who receives the mandate generally has 28 days to assemble a government and may request an extension of up to 14 additional days from the president.

If that effort fails, the president may assign the task to another member of Knesset. Additional procedures apply if successive attempts to establish a government are unsuccessful.

Because a governing coalition ordinarily requires the backing of at least 61 members of the 120-seat Knesset, the recommendations presented to Herzog will provide an early indication of the alliances that may shape the next government.

They will not, however, guarantee that the recommended candidate can secure the parliamentary majority needed to take office.

The uncertainty surrounding the positions of Yisrael Beytenu, Together, and United Torah Judaism means that the final picture may not become clear until the parties formally present their positions to the president.

In the meantime, political negotiations are expected to continue as the competing camps seek to secure endorsements and identify possible coalition partners.

The coming consultations will also offer an indication of whether parties that campaigned against one another are prepared to consider compromises to avoid another election.

For Netanyahu, the challenge will be to demonstrate that the right-wing bloc can attract enough additional support to form a government. For Eisenkot, the task will be to establish that the parties prepared to recommend him can translate those endorsements into a viable parliamentary coalition.

The decisions of parties that have not yet declared their intentions could therefore prove particularly important.

Herzog’s meetings on Wednesday will mark the first formal step toward resolving those questions, but the ultimate composition of Israel’s next government will depend on the coalition agreements reached in the days and weeks that follow.

{Matzav.com}