Golan urges coalition with Arab parties as count continues

Yair Golan urged opposition parties on October 28 to form a government in partnership with Arab parties, arguing that their combined support could give them a parliamentary majority. His appeal came as provisional election counts shifted and showed no bloc with the 61 seats needed to govern Israel’s 120-member Knesset alone. Golan, leader of The Democrats, based his case on seat arithmetic that included Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties. In a post on X, he compared 65 seats for factions opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with 55 for those supporting him. The figures described his political argument, not a settled coalition agreement or final election result. Provisional counts varied by the time they were reported. One snapshot put Netanyahu’s bloc at 54 seats and the Arab parties at 19. Another, when about 60.2% of votes had been counted, put Netanyahu’s bloc at 57 and the Arab parties at 16, with the opposition at 47. Counting was still underway, and neither set of figures established who could form a government. The Joint List and Raam, led by Mansour Abbas, were projected to make substantial gains. Those projections could give Arab lawmakers influence in coalition...