Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced on Wednesday that he would issue a mandate to form a new government as early as this Sunday.
The president made the announcement following the success of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent parliamentary elections.
After receiving the official results of the November 1 election, Mr Herzog said he wanted to complete consultations with the various party leaders by Friday.
Each party will recommend its own candidate to form a government.
It is widely believed that Mr Netanyahu will get the job. The right-wing religious camp of the long-time former prime minister won 64 of 120 seats in the election.
This was Israel’s fifth election in three and a half years after an eight-party coalition broke up in June when it lost the majority after only 12 months.
The centrist Yesh Atid party of incumbent head of government Yair Lapid came second to Mr Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party.
For the first…
