Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clung on to power by the skin of his
teeth last night after hammering together a new coalition government at
the eleventh hour.
The
prime minister reached a deal with the nationalist Jewish Home party
shortly before a midnight deadline to avert an embarrassing scenario
that would have forced him from office.
But
with a knife-edge majority of just one seat in the 120-member
parliament, expectations were that he would have to expand the ruling
alliance beyond his natural religious and rightist partners or battle
for survival at every vote.
Announcing
the deal after marathon talks with Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett,
Benjamin Netanyahu said: 'I am leaving here to call the president and the
speaker of the parliament to inform them that I have been able to build a
government.'
President Reuven Rivlin's office said he had sent a written note followed up with a phone call.
'I
am honoured to inform you that I have been successful in forming a
government, which I will request is brought before the Knesset for its
approval as soon as possible,' Rivlin's office quoted the note as
saying.
The agreement, seven weeks after his Likud party won the election,
came just before a deadline for the formation of an administration.
Benjamin Netanyahu needed backing from the right-wing Bayit Yehudi party to give him the necessary 61 seats.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who first became PM in 1996, is now on course for his fourth term in office.
The leader of Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home), Naftali Bennett, had
demanded the justice ministry in return for support from his eight MPs.
He
opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, enjoys the support of
Israeli settler communities in the West Bank and has called for the
annexation of parts of the occupied territory.
Bayit Yehudi's backing for settlement expansion could worsen Israel's relations with its ally Washington and with Europe
Note
Benjamin Netanyahu had already secured deals by late on Tuesday May 05,2015 with three
parties - the centrist Kulanu and two ultra-Orthodox parties, United
Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas.
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