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Itongadol.- President Reuven Rivlin was officially presented on Wednesday with the results of last week\’s election for the 20th Knesset.
Central Election Committee chairman Justice Salim Joubran presented the results to Rivlin in a ceremony at the President\’s Residence in Jerusalem.
In an apparent dig at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Rivlin said upon receiving the results, "A high voter turnout is the realization of democracy, and a blessing to democracy. How awful would it be, if the democratic duty to vote, were to be seen as a curse, or something from which to be warned off? One who is afraid of votes in a ballot box, will eventually see stones thrown in the streets.
The president\’s comments came after Netanyahu, in an attempt to get out the right-wing vote, warned on Election Day that droves of Arab voters were being "bused to the polls," to cast ballots in mass numbers.
After receiving the official results of the election, Rivlin was set to entrust Netanyahu on Wednesday evening with forming his fourth government.
"Having completed my consultations with the parties already this week, it is my intention to award this evening, the task of forming the coalition to the candidate who received the recommendations of most of the Members of Knesset – more than sixty-one MKs. That candidate will receive the first opportunity, to form a coalition."
Judge Joubran said, "The voter turnout at this election rose significantly on the last election, and indeed is the highest over many decades, reaching 72.4 percent. As high as the turnout reaches, the more representative and inclusive of a range of opinions, the 20th Knesset will be. For this the Central Elections Committee is very proud."
Netanyahu will have 28 days to form a government – until Wednesday evening, April 22, the night of Independence Day.
If he does not succeed during that period, he can request a 14-day extension, which would end on May 6, the night of Lag Ba’omer.
While formal coalition negotiations will begin on Thursday at the Knesset, there have already been talks between the Likud and all of its expected coalition partners.
Netanyahu met on Tuesday evening with Moshe Kahlon, their first meeting in two years, and told the leader of Kulanu he would keep his promise to appoint him finance minister and also give Kulanu other socioeconomic portfolios.
The prime minister met on Monday with Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennett and tried to persuade him to accept the Education portfolio, which his religious-Zionist constituents care about, but Bennett wants to be defense minister or foreign minister.
Meanwhile, Likud MKs Ze’ev Elkin and Yariv Levin met with Shas’ negotiating team on Tuesday morning.
Shas is seeking the Interior and Religious Services portfolios, both for party leader Arye Deri, and deputy minister posts in the Finance, Education and Religious Services ministries for MKs Yitzhak Cohen, Meshulam Nahari and Ya’acov Margi.
Likud officials also have met with the leaders of United Torah Judaism, who want the Knesset Finance Committee chairmanship for MK Moshe Gafni and want MK Ya’acov Litzman appointed deputy health minister with no minister above him.
Former Likud interior minister Gideon Sa’ar said at a closed event at a Tel Aviv bar on Monday that was reported on by Army Radio that he still thinks a national unity government with the Zionist Union is a possibility.
“Based on the statements made over the last few days, including statements we are not hearing, I cannot rule out the possibility it will happen,” Sa’ar said.