T. Belman. As far as I understand it, the President has little discretion.
“The president selects the prime minister as the party leader most able to form a government, based on the number of parliament seats his or her coalition has won. After the president’s selection, the prime minister has forty-five days to form a government.”
President Herzog: ‘I’ll work to promote a broad unity government at any price’
President Isaac HerzogAmos Ben Gershom/GPO
Reports have emerged that Israeli President Isaac Herzog intends to use the powers inherent in his position to work toward the formation of a “broad unity government” following the upcoming national elections in November.
According to several Knesset members who were present during closed conversations that Herzog held with MKs from both left-wing and right-wing parties, the President said, using the following words:
“I intend to roll up my sleeves after the elections and work toward the establishment – at any price – of a broad unity government, as far as is possible, in order to bring stability to the system, because Israeli citizens are fed up with these neverending election cycles.”
The reports, published by Kan Bet, added that Herzog said that when Israelis get up in the morning, they want to know above all that they have a stable government that concerns itself with their security, with the economy, and with other pressing needs, and that the broader a government is, the more chance it has of being stable and of truly working to promote the interests of the country’s citizens.
Herzog’s remarks notwithstanding, the outgoing government, most definitely the broadest in Israeli history encompassing parties from the Arab Ra’am and far-left Meretz all the way to ostensibly right-wing New Hope and Yisrael Beytenu, was one of the shortest-lived in the country’s history – it will have lasted little more than a year by the time of the November elections.
Following the publication of the President’s remarks, those within Herzog’s inner circle clarified that he has no intention of intervening in the elections or of influencing their results in any manner.
Nonetheless, they added, following the elections, Herzog will do “whatever he can to assist the formation of a stable government.”
Israeli law is somewhat vague on the question of the President’s authority when it comes to choosing a party leader (or any other Knesset member) and charging him with forming a coalition. The President has considerable discretion in assessing who has the best chance of creating a government; there is no rule that he must give the first option to the leader of the largest party, or even to the person with the most recommendations.
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