Israeli President Isaac Herzog has selected Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot to attempt to form a new government following an election deadlock in the Knesset that left no clear path to power.
Herzog's office confirmed on Saturday night that the president had informed Eisenkot of his decision to task him with assembling a administration. A formal ceremony to officially confer the appointment will take place on Sunday at the president's residence in Jerusalem.
The move comes after the general election on 27 October, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition lost its parliamentary majority. Although Netanyahu's bloc emerged as the largest single grouping in the Knesset, Israel's longest-serving leader remains locked in a battle to retain power.
Eisenkot, a former military chief who now heads an anti-Netanyahu political alliance, is considered Netanyahu's strongest rival. While Eisenkot's grouping had previously declined to join forces with Arab political parties to build a majority coalition, Arab leaders chose to nominate Eisenkot during marathon consultations with Herzog, citing deep dissatisfaction with the policies of Netanyahu and his far-right allies.
