Israeli president begins process to decide which leader should try to form a government

Israel’s election commission confirmed on Wednesday the final results of last week’s vote that stripped Binyamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition of its governing majority, rejecting the claims of mass fraud promoted by the prime minister.

The main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, said Netanyahu had launched a “pogrom against democracy” in attempting to hold on to power by discrediting valid votes and weaponising security forces against parties led by Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Hours earlier, Israel’s attorney general said she had blocked a demand from the Shin Bet security service to interrogate senior politicians from the Palestinian-led parties because she had not been presented with any evidence of wrongdoing.

“In a country governed by the rule of law, neither citizens nor elected officials can be interrogated without evidence that justifies doing so,” Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement, after Haaretz reported on the attempt to target four politicians.

On Wednesday, election authorities presented the final results to the president, Yitzhak Herzog, after rejecting allegations they had been tainted by large-scale foreign interference and voter fraud.

“The review found no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results,” the Central Elections Committee said in a statement.

The body’s chair, Noam Sohlberg, said some “suspicions” were still under investigation but “they do not cast doubt on the election as a whole or justify delaying the election results”.

When the results were handed over, Herzog denounced racist attacks on Palestinian citizens who had turned out to vote at historic rates.

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“I condemn the coarseness and racist expressions that we have heard recently,” he said. “I hold Arab society in Israel in great respect. I value its contribution to the country in every area of life, and its desire to integrate.”

Herzog will play a key role in the formation of the next government by choosing which politician has the first chance to create a coalition. He is expected to name Eisenkot, and the announcement could come as early as Thursday evening.

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A former leader of the Israeli military who lost his son fighting in Gaza, Eisenkot has secured the public support of all of the Jewish Israeli opposition parties. Palestinian-led parties have said their priority is removing Netanyahu, so they are expected to back him as the strongest contender to achieve that.

However, negotiations could take weeks and Eisenkot warned of continuing attempts to undermine trust in the election results. He accused Netanyahu of weaponising the security services against domestic opponents in an effort to hold on to power.

“The employees of the Ministry of Defense, law enforcement and the civil service in Israel are servants of the state, not the king,” he said in a statement. “Woe to anyone who abuses their authority and role for political considerations.”

The Shin Bet chief, David Zini, handpicked for the role by Netanyahu, had ordered the interrogations and sought to classify the investigation as a security file, which would have allowed harsher conditions, including barring the politicians from having legal counsel. – Guardian