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The process of counting the votes in the Knesset
(Photo: AFP)
The count is over, there will be no change in the blocks: The Central Election Commission finished the double envelope count this afternoon (Thursday). The final number of those double envelopes was about 428,000. The results will probably be published today or at the latest tomorrow morning.
To date, 99.9% of the vote counts have been published, and there are probably less than 10,000 votes left that have not yet been typed. Earlier this morning there was a change in the picture of the seats: RAAM Lost its power and went down to four seats, while March Strengthened and rose to six seats.
In the other parties the situation remains the same –Likud There are currently 30 seats, lThere is a future 17 seats, lShas 9 seats, lBlue and white 8 seats, lTorah Judaism 7 seats, lright 7 seats, lWorking 7 seats, lIsrael is our Home 7 seats, lReligious Zionism 6 seats, lThe common list 6 seats anda new hope 6 seats. At the moment, the bloc of the right-wing ultra-Orthodox has 59 seats along with Naftali Bennett, and the bloc of change has 57 seats without Mansur Abbas’ UAV – and there is no chance of a change in the blocs.
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Election Commission Director General: “Results Tomorrow Morning”
(Photo: Moshe Mizrahi, Meshi Ben Ami)
Watch the process of counting votes in the Knesset
(Photo: Moshe Mizrahi)
The only question that has not yet been finally decided is whether Meretz will get the sixth seat or it will go to the Labor Party. Meretz now holds it, in which case Musi Raz will enter the Knesset. If there is a change at the last minute, then Nachman Shai – who, like Musi Raz, was also a former Knesset member – will return to the plenum. The current vote gap is 459 in favor of Meretz, and even in this case the chances of change are very small.
The Central Election Commission is more careful and is not in a hurry to publish the results before all the necessary tests are carried out and make sure that no voter has voted twice. To date, data have been typed into more than 390,000 double envelopes, and it remains to count three regular polling stations (out of 12,127).
The director general of the Central Election Commission, Adv. Orly Adas, told Ynet today that “I hope that by tomorrow morning we will have an almost final picture. There is no homogeneous group in the double envelope count that can change the results dramatically, so in my opinion It’s quite similar to the regular polls. ”
The chairman of the new Tikva party, Gideon Saar, commented on the apparent results and signaled once again that he would not join the government with the Likud under any circumstances. Action must now be taken to realize the possibility of forming a change government. “As I announced on election night, ego will not be a consideration.”
President Reuven Rivlin has decided to postpone consultations at the President’s House ahead of the imposition of the government train until after Pesach – Monday, April 5, close to the opening of the evidentiary phase of the Netanyahu trial.
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(Photo: Mark Neiman, GPO)
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The president wants to impose the government train on the one with the highest chances, and it can be assumed that the postponement after Pesach will require the representatives of the parties to reach the president in solidarity. Although he could have started consultations as early as Wednesday, with the official results, he decided to give the party leaders more time – and require them to answer all the scenarios – not only who the figure they recommend, but also with whom they would agree to sit and with whom not.
To prevent allegations against the president as heard in the past about conspiracies and conspiracies, the entire consultation process will be open to the media live and completely transparent. In fact, this will be the first time this year that the President’s House will be opened to journalists. The president must impose the government train on one of the candidates within seven days of receiving the results – that is, until April 7. The Knesset member who receives the mandate from the President will have 28 days to form the government.
Rivlin points out: “Fourth election hurts public confidence in democracy”
(Photo: Alex Gamburg)
The president can extend the period, at the request of the candidate, by an additional 14 days. If he did not announce that he had succeeded in forming a government, announced that he had not succeeded or that the Knesset had rejected the government he had formed, the mandate would return to the President’s house. At this stage, the president has two options, which he must choose within three days: to impose the government train on another Knesset member who has agreed to accept the job of government train, or to inform the Knesset speaker that he does not see the possibility of forming a government.
If the president gives the mandate to another MK, the candidate will have 28 days to form a government, without extensions. In a situation where the president informs the speaker that he does not see a candidate who can form a government, or that the other candidate failed to form a government, the mandate passes to the Knesset. For 21 days, 61 Knesset members can ask the President in writing to assign the position to a Knesset member of their choice, provided he has agreed to it.
If such a request is indeed submitted, the President of the State must impose the formation of the Government on the same candidate, who will have at his disposal 14 days for the formation of the Government, without extensions. If no application is submitted by a majority of the Knesset members, or the same candidate has not been able to form a government – the Knesset will dissolve and Israel will go to a fifth election in less than two and a half years.