Israel's Government Formation Deadlock: Three Options on the Table

According to preliminary results, the Israeli elections produced an undecided political landscape after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing camp failed to maintain its parliamentary majority; this opens the door to weeks and possibly months of negotiations and attempts to form a new government.

With most votes counted, estimates indicate that Netanyahu's camp secured approximately 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, which is less than the 61 seats required to form a government.

Attempts to expand Netanyahu's camp
One scenario facing Netanyahu involves attracting opposition parties to join his government, however, these parties ruled out cooperating with him during the election campaign, according to a CNN report.

He can also seek to win over individual opposition members, but this requires enough defections to bridge the parliamentary gap.

The opposition faces the obstacle of Arab parties
In contrast, the opposition has a chance to form a government, but its ideological, political, and personal differences complicate this task.

Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu's main rival, is expected to win 21 seats, but he needs the support of the two Arab lists, "Ra'am" and "The Joint List," which are expected to together secure 19 seats.

Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrats party, called for including Arab parties within the opposition camp, rejecting what he described as Netanyahu's "racist" division between Jewish and Arab votes.

However, right-wing allies in Eisenkot's camp oppose forming a government that includes Arab parties, or a minority government relying on their external support.

National unity government to avoid new elections
Forming a national unity government including Netanyahu's Likud party and one or more opposition parties remains one of the scenarios on the table, although Netanyahu and opposition leaders ruled out this option during the election campaign.

A unity government may emerge as a way out of the political deadlock, given the difficulty of gathering 61 seats behind either camp, and the possibility that failed negotiations could lead to a new election round.