Benjamin Netanyahu scores majority needed to form government

By Nick Gass 

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured the requisite majority of parliamentary members to form a government, according to reports from the country’s media. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin continued to meet with factions Monday.

 

Representatives from Kulanu — a crucial centrist swing party — met with Rivlin to recommend that the Likud party’s Netanyahu be tasked with forming a new government, giving the current prime minister the absolute majority of 61 votes in his favor.

“We nominate Netanyahu and the broader the base of the coalition the better it will be for all of us,” said party leader Moshe Kahlon, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Rivlin was also scheduled to meet Monday with party representatives from Yisrael Betenyu and Meretz to get their nominations for prime minister.

The president met with Likud, Zionist Union, Jewish Home, Shas, United Torah Judaism and Joint List factions on Sunday, according to The Times of Israel, with 51 of 88 Knesset members he met with recommending Netanyahu to lead the next government. Kulanu would put Netanyahu over the top.

The Zionist Union, led by Netanyahu opponent Isaac Herzog, and the Joint List, composed of four Arab parties, were the only two factions with which Rivlin met that declined to support the prime minister.