Modi's friend Netanyahu wins re-election in Israel; Main challenger accepts defeat

New Delhi, September 20: Bracing up for weeks of political uncertainty and as the geopolitical tensions rise in the Middle East, Israel’s former military chief Benny Gantz declared victory on Thursday in Israel’s election and rebuffed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for power sharing.

 

 

Following Tuesday's deadlocked parliamentary election, Netanyahu on Thursday had hinted that he would be willing to rotate as prime minister with Gantz, an arrangement that could allow him to retain the premiership and the potential protection it offers through any corruption hearings, if Gantz would agree to let him go first.

 

Although Netanyahu could not gain majority on his terms, this isn't yet a blow for a towering figure in Israeli politics who pointed to the last successful unity government in the 1980s, when Likud and a center left alliance shared power for several years. "Peres was prime minister for two years before handing power to Likud’s Yitzhak Shamir in 1986. Shimon and Shamir agreed to work together to navigate Israel’s path to safety,” he said.

 

Netanyahu also said that his group of parties would go into coalition talks with Gantz together while Likud and the other parties in the group affirmed that they wouldn’t join any government that doesn’t include all of them.

 

Gantz hasn’t received the go ahead to form a government from Israel’s president but appears to have a slight edge in unofficial results with 98 per cent of the vote counted in Israel’s second election this year. Gantz vows to lead a broad coalition from across Israel’s political spectrum, known as a unity government, ending several years of right wing and religious majorities led by Netanyahu.