The Arab-Israeli party Raam has made public that it is willing to back Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar formation, as prime minister of Israel even if no formal coalition agreement has been concluded beforehand, according to information reported by the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz".
Raam has eight votes in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, a support that would bring Eisenkot’s allies, who total 48 seats out of the Chamber’s 120, closer to the threshold of the 61 deputies needed to reach an absolute majority.
The Joint List, the other major Arab-Israeli force, has eleven additional seats and has also shown itself inclined to back an executive led by Eisenkot, although its official position, for now, continues to be abstention rather than an affirmative vote.
According to information published by "Haaretz", which cites internal sources from Raam, the party intends to prevent Eisenkot from being forced to rely on the ultra-Orthodox formation United Torah Judaism in order to push through his government.
As a first move, both Raam and the Joint List aim for a new president of the Knesset to be designated, despite the fact that from Eisenkot’s Yashar party the official message continues to be rejection of depending on Arab parties.
This Saturday, the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has communicated that he will task Eisenkot with the job of forming a government after the round of consultations held last week, from which it follows that 67 of the Knesset’s 120 deputies "recommended to President Herzog that Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot be given the mandate to form a government." Other 46 parliamentarians requested that the mandate fall to outgoing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.