Israel May Have to Wait 42 Days Before It Learns Who Has Won Election

Even though voting in Israel's elections was completed last night, it may be weeks before a new Israeli prime minister emerges at the head of a new government.

Voting in Israel is done on a system of party lists chosen by proportional representation. This year, 33 separate parties stood for election. A coalition government is almost inevitable, but requires a long period of behind the scenes negotiating and bargaining.

In a week, after the official results are formally published, the Israeli president Shimon Peres will meet with the heads of all the parties and ask who they think ought to form the next government. He will then choose one MP who he thinks is most likely to form a majority coalition – not necessarily the leader of the largest party – and will set him or her the task. Whoever is chosen then has 42 days to draw up that coalition.

All of this is laid down in Israel's Basic Law, under an amendment approved in 2001. If two parties emerge with exactly the same number of seats in the 120-seat Knesset then they could rotate the premiership, each party leader holding the job for two years before passing it on to the other.

Only once before, in the mid-1980s, has there been a situation similar to this latest result. At that time Peres, who was head of the Alignment party in the years before labor, won more seats than any other party but could not form a majority government. Instead Peres agreed to take a two-year term as prime minister before passing the job to Yitzhak Shamir, leader of the Likud, for another two years.