The Parliament had until midnight Wednesday to form a majority government. But the hour passed with the two leading candidates for prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu and the former army chief Benny Gantz, unable to negotiate a power-sharing agreement.
Until a new government is created, Mr. Netanyahu remains prime minister of a caretaker government.
By clinging to office, analysts say, Mr. Netanyahu would at least leave himself in better position to negotiate a plea bargain with state prosecutors, and could perhaps avoid trial altogether in exchange for retiring from public life.
In the next election, expected to be in March, he will have to campaign as a defendant in three criminal cases: He was indicted on Nov. 21 on bribery and other corruption charges, accused of trading official favors worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israeli media moguls for lavish gifts and extravagantly positive press.
It is unclear whether the indictment itself will hurt his chances, though, since the outlines of the cases against him have been known for months.
Israeli opinion polls show that another contest between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gantz would result in the same stalemate: Mr. Gantz’s Blue and White party nearly always comes out slightly ahead, but falls short of enough partners to form a majority coalition.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/world/middleeast/israel-election-vote-netanyahu.html
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