Rivlin Grants Netanyahu Extension to Form Gov’t

YERUSHALAYIM
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu with President Reuven Rivlin during a meeting to discuss extending the period of time to form a new coalition government, at the president’s residence in Yerushalayim, Monday. (Haim Zach/GPO)

President Reuven Rivlin extended by two weeks the deadline for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to form a new governing coalition, after Netanyahu requested the extra time while he continues to hold talks with potential coalition partners.

Netanyahu met with Rivlin Monday at the president’s official residence in Yerushalayim.

“After you presented the need for additional time to complete forming a government, and according to clause 8 of Basic Law: The Government, I hereby extend the time allocated to form a government by 14 days,” Rivlin said.

According to Basic Law: The Government, would-be prime ministers are allocated 28 days to form the government. The president can grant an extension to this period of up to 14 additional days. Rivlin set May 29 as the new deadline.

On Motzoei Shabbos, a spokesman for Netanyahu said the prime minister would seek the extra time, citing a heavy schedule that included Pesach, national memorial days and a surge of deadly fighting with Palestinian terrorists from Gaza earlier this month as some of the reasons for the delay.

In a letter to Rivlin requesting the extension, Netanyahu wrote that his negotiating team had already made “significant progress” towards forming a government.

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