Israel: Herzog to task Eisenkot with forming a government today; the Basic Law gives him 28 days plus up to 14

His summary was precise. Representatives of factions totalling 67 members recommended the leader of the Yashar! party, Eisenkot. Representatives of factions totalling 46 members recommended Netanyahu, the leader of Likud. The remaining seven seats, by subtraction from 120, belong to United Torah Judaism, which told Herzog on 5 November that it had decided not to recommend anyone. Its delegation included MKs Yitzhak Pindrus and Yitzhak Goldknopf.

The Office of the President published each faction's recommendation separately. The United Arab List (Ra'am) and Yisrael Beytenu recommended Eisenkot. Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionism and Shas recommended Netanyahu.

Herzog then said something that explains why the decision took days rather than minutes. The results of the consultations may appear clear, he said, but the authority the law gives him is to decide who has the ability to form a government, and that is not entirely clear given the mutual vetoes between the blocs and within them. He said he would try to settle it directly and quickly in personal talks with some party leaders, and that he intended to task a member of the Knesset on the coming Sunday, leaving no stone unturned in an effort to build a stable government.

What the Basic Law allows

Israel's Basic Law: The Government sets the clock. Once a new government must be formed, the president, after consulting the representatives of the parliamentary groups, assigns the task to a member of the Knesset who has agreed to take it, within seven days of the publication of the election results. That is the step Herzog is completing on Sunday.

The member tasked has 28 days to form a government. The president may extend that period by additional periods, as long as all of them together do not exceed 14 days, so the task can run for 42 days at most. A nominee who succeeds must present the government to the Knesset, which has to express confidence in it by a vote.

If the period ends without a government, if the nominee says in advance that he cannot form one, or if the Knesset rejects the government he presents, the president has three days to give the task to another member who has said he is willing, or to tell the Knesset Speaker that he sees no possibility of forming a government. Before doing either, the president may consult the parliamentary groups again, and a second nominee also has 28 days.

After that, the law gives the Knesset itself a turn. A majority of its members may ask the president in writing, within 21 days, to assign the task to a named member who has agreed to it in writing. The president must do so within two days, and that member has 14 days to form a government.

If no such request is made, or that attempt fails, the president informs the Speaker, and the Knesset is deemed to have decided to dissolve itself before the end of its term. The election then takes place on the last Tuesday before the end of 90 days from the announcement.

What the numbers do and do not decide

The recommendation count is not the same as a coalition. Sixty-one members are needed for a majority of 120. Eisenkot's 67 recommendations are a count of who named him to the president, not a count of who will sit in his government or vote for it in a confidence vote. Herzog's own words acknowledge it: he described mutual vetoes between the blocs and within them.

That is why the seven United Torah Judaism seats matter. The party did not recommend either candidate, and in a house split 67 and 46 among those who did, they are the only seats not counted for either side.

Once the mandate is handed over, the 28 days run from that day. The decision on any extension comes only when the period is nearly over, and until a new government wins the Knesset's confidence, the outgoing government continues to serve.

The first date to watch is Sunday 8 November at 5 pm, when the mandate is scheduled to be handed over.