JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost an important vote on Monday over who gets to join a strong parliamentary committee, hindering him as he tries to form a new government after inconclusive elections.
Netanyahu has about two weeks to try to reunite a ruling coalition. The defeat in the vote indicated that the veteran leader still has a way to go to get a majority in the Knesset with 120 seats.
The vote was to decide who will join the Arrangements Committee, which, in the absence of a new government, controls the legislative agenda.
After a motion floated by Likud, to Netanyahu’s right, was rejected in a close vote, his centrist rival, Yair Lapid, managed to submit his own proposal, giving a stronger representation to the anti-Netanyahu bloc.
A small Islamist party that has expressed openness to working with Netanyahu, making it a potential kingdom, voted with Lapid.
On April 6, President Reuven Rivlin called on Netanyahu to form a government and gave him 28 days to do so. If he fails, Netanyahu can ask Rivlin for a two-week extension before the president reaches another candidate or asks parliament to nominate him.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, edited by Timothy Heritage)