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Seconds before the deadline passed, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Likud party announced he had returned the mandate to form a new government back to President Reuven Rivlin.
The onus is now on the President to decide which of Israel’s other political leaders he might entrust with the task of trying to form a governing coalition, or whether to pursue a different path to secure a breakthrough.
Lapid is a one-time Finance Minister who entered politics in 2012 after a successful career as a TV news anchor.
But even if Lapid is given the mandate, the key man in coalition negotiations looks set to be Naftali Bennett, a former Defense Minister and leader of the right-wing Yamina party.
Even though his party won only seven seats in the 120-seat Knesset, Bennett finds himself in the extraordinary position of having been offered the Prime…
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