The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, announced this Sunday that throughout this week he will begin consultations with the formations represented in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, with the aim of analyzing the political scenario after the elections held last Tuesday and exploring agreements that prevent a new call to the polls.
Herzog detailed that next Wednesday he will receive from the hands of the president of the Central Electoral Committee, Noam Sohkberg, the official results of the elections and that, from that moment on, he will begin the round of contacts at the Presidential Residence. He emphasized that the doors of the institution will remain open to all parties and parliamentary groups without exception.
"I hope that the representatives come with an open mind and, today I add, with an open heart," the head of State stated, who has asked the different political forces to come to the talks willing to listen, exchange proposals and raise creative solutions that make it possible to avoid Israel having to face another electoral call.
The president stressed that the campaign is already history and that its results constitute a "reality" that the leaders must accept, after having maintained very high positions during the contest.
"The time has come to ask all our leaders to stop climbing and face this reality," he emphasized, resorting to the metaphor of stairs to illustrate the role of the consultations: "We will try to place stairs so that our leaders can come down and face this reality in a measured and prudent way".
Herzog's statements come after the definitive count of Tuesday's elections in Israel became known, which has ratified the Likud of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the most voted list, but has left both his bloc and that of the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot very far from the absolute majority of 61 seats in the Knesset, according to the latest data from the Central Electoral Commission. This balance anticipates days, if not weeks, of negotiations to try to prevent Israeli citizens from having to vote again in the short term.
In this scenario, the opposition bloc has already begun this Thursday its own internal contacts to coordinate positions in view of the talks that will take place in the coming days.