Blue and White leader Benny Gantz will receive a mandate to form a government from President Reuven Rivlin at 8 PM on Wednesday. He will have 28 days without the possibility of an extension.
By GIL HOFFMANPresident Reuven Rivlin (center) meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, September 25 2019 (photo credit: AMOS BEN GERSHOM, GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his Likud party on Wednesday to accept Blue and White's invitation for coalition talks that will begin on Thursday afternoon.Blue and White leader Benny Gantz will receive a mandate to form a government from President Reuven Rivlin at 8 PM on Wednesday. He will have 28 days without the possibility of an extension.Netanyahu convened the leaders of the parties in his political bloc on Wednesday. They decided to negotiate with Blue and White as a bloc and that no party would come on its own to talks with Gantz's party.Likud ministers Yariv Levin and Ze'ev Elkin will represent all 55 MKs in the bloc in the talks. Blue and White objected to that when Netanyahu had the mandate to form the government and insisted on negotiating with the Likud alone.In the meeting with his political allies, Netanyahu reiterated his call for Blue and White to accept a compromise plan offered by Rivlin.The plan calls for Netanyahu to be prime minister first and then take an extended break while fighting corruption charges, with Gantz taking his place as prime minister after initially serving as vice prime minister.
