President Isaac Herzog has formally started consultations with the leaders of Israel's political parties after a national election failed to produce a clear, governing majority. Addressing politicians ahead of the talks, he cautioned that "not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled" if they are to build a coalition and avert another ballot.
President Herzog's meetings mark the opening of the constitutional process by which the head of state gauges which lawmaker is best placed to try to form a government. Under Israel's parliamentary system the president hears from party heads and then nominates a member of the Knesset to attempt to assemble a coalition able to win confidence in the legislature.
The warning from the president underscores the challenge facing prospective coalition builders: a fragmented vote and competing campaign pledges make it difficult to reconcile rival priorities without compromise. Party leaders will be pressed in the coming days to indicate whether they can back a candidate for prime minister or prefer to block rival formations, a dynamic that often gives smaller parties disproportionate leverage.
If none of the nominated candidates succeeds in forming a stable government, Israel faces the prospect of another election — a politically costly and costly prospect that Herzog and others have sought to avoid. The consultations do not themselves determine the outcome but set the timetable and parameters for the negotiations that will shape the next government.