Leaders of Israel’s political parties scrambled yesterday to form alliances after the too-close-to-call national elections whose final results won’t be known until today.
Tzipi Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu, who finished a close one-two in the confused balloting on Tuesday, had separate meetings with Avigdor Lieberman, whose far-right party finished third and could play kingmaker in a coalition.
Lieberman said afterward he could jump either way.
“We do not rule anybody out,” he said.
The final tally is expected to be announced today, after soldiers’ and diplomats’ ballots are counted. The number of uncounted votes is enough to sway the results, officials said.
Sources in Lieberman’s party said it may even ally with the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, whose spiritual leader blasted him last week, saying, “Whoever votes for Lieberman gives strength to Satan.”
The gridlock was created when Livni’s Kadima Party won 28 seats and Netanyahu’s Likud Party took 27 seats in voting for the 120-member parliament.
Livni said yesterday she should be the prime minister of any coalition. “The people chose me in droves,” she said.
She proposed that the two parties form a “national unity” government, but Netanyahu rejected the offer.
This means either leader would need an alliance with at least three – and likely half a dozen – smaller parties to create a governing majority.
A possible compromise with historical roots was shot down yesterday when Likud officials rejected the idea of rotating the premiership between Netanyahu and Livni.
That worked once before, when Likud’s Yitzhak Shamir and Labor’s Shimon Peres took turns being prime minister and foreign minister after the 1984 election produced a dead heat.
But Netanyahu rejected the idea, saying a majority of voters endorsed Likud and other right-wing parties
“We received a mandate from the people. There will be no rotation,” he told party members yesterday.
Lieberman said a deal to form a new government was needed quickly because Israel “has been paralyzed for half a year.”
Peres, now Israel’s president, will meet next week with the various party leaders and is expected to announce around Feb. 20 whether Livni or Netanyahu can officially take the lead in forming a majority. Whomever he chooses will have six weeks.