Likud Says 60 MKs Have Signed Up for Coalition, Kahlon Denies

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.