Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said on Wednesday night it had signed up 60 of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers for a potential coalition, still short of a majority as a midnight deadline to form a new Israeli government loomed.
The announcement was immediately contested, however, by the Kulanu party, one of Likud’s presumed allies. “Kulanu has not signed a coalition deal,” it said on Twitter. Kulanu chief Moshe Kahlon said his party would not be a member of a government with less than 61 MKs.
It was not immediately clear whether Likud intends to set up a non-majority government at this stage.
The chareidi parties were reportedly in favor of such a move, as being preferable to another round of elections.
Following Kulanu’s denial statement, the Likud issued a clarification: agreements with Kulanu have been finalized but the party has refused to sign the coalition agreement until Yisrael Beytenu also does.
Which means that Netanyahu still has no government.