Netanyahu's position weakens as rival secures broad backing to try to form government

Israel's October 27 electionended in deadlockwith neither Netanyahu nor. Eisenkot, a ​former military chief, securing a clear path to a majority in parliament. That has set up a tough task for President.

Isaac Herzog, whose mostly ​ceremonial role comes with the post-election responsibility of picking a candidate he believes has the best chance to break the ⁠deadlock in a deeply divided country. Netanyahu remains prime minister in a caretaker government until a new coalition is formed, or through another election, which must be ​held if no candidate succeeds.

Though Netanyahu outperformed expectations in the vote and his own Likud Party won the most seats, his nationalist-religious coalition lost its governing majority. In ​a setback for the prime minister on Thursday, United Torah Judaism, one of two major parties representing ultra-Orthodox Jewish voters and a longstanding Netanyahu coalition ally, declined to recommend any candidate to form a government.

And while Eisenkot, like Netanyahu, has so far ruled out forming a government with Israel's two Arab-led parties, both factions endorsed Eisenkot on Thursday, giving him backing ​from a comfortable majority of lawmakers.

'Remember the issues tearing us apart from within'Herzog will meet separately with Netanyahu's and Eisenkot's factions at his residence in Jerusalem ​on Thursday night, wrapping up party meetings he started on Wednesday after the announcement of official election results. Herzog has called on parties to do their utmost to avert another ‌round of ⁠elections.

"Any reasonable person need only look at the security and diplomatic challenges before us, at the changing region around us, and remember the issues tearing us apart from within, to understand that an immense responsibility rests upon us," Herzog said. 'Daddy' was a paramedic.

He was killed in March in an Israeli strike on their home in Tebnin, southern Lebanon. He met with smaller factions on Wednesday and plans more meetings with parties in ascending order by size, culminating with Eisenkot's Yashar and Netanyahu's Likud.

Likud won the most seats of any single party with 27 in the 120-seat Knesset, but Netanyahu's wider ​religious-nationalist coalition garnered only 53 in total. Read More:Israel faces political deadlock as US support wavers.

That ​was still better than Eisenkot's ⁠anti-Netanyahu coalition spanning four centre-left to right-wing Jewish-led parties, which won just 48 seats despite pre-election polls pointing to a close race. Two parties representing. Israel's Arab minority won an unprecedented 19 seats.

Critics accuse Netanyahu of trying to undermine election results. Netanyahu, ​at risk of losing power, has seized on an investigation by election officials into possible vote tampering to cast ​doubt on the results, ⁠accusing Arab-led parties of stealing the vote.

Critics accuse Netanyahu and his partners of trying to undermine the results, which he denies. Israel's Central Election Committee said on Wednesday that the election's integrity had not been compromised. The head of the committee, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, has called on Israel's elected officials to protect public trust, ⁠rather than ​shake it.

"This is a real danger. One of the foundations of democracy is the peaceful transfer ​of power," Sohlberg on Wednesday. High voter turnout, including among the Arab minority, was a blessing, he said.

Netanyahu's allies on the far-right, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, ​have called for the immediate arrest and interrogation of Arab party leaders.