Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu has been charged with the task of attempting to form a coalition government, and while he would be able to piece together a coalition simply with the right-wing parties that supported his leadership bid, he is hoping to attract a larger bloc.

“I call on members of all the factions … to set politics aside and put the good of the nation at the center.” Netanyahu has previously spoken of his ambition to form a coalition of “all of the Zionist parties,” but the results of the election and the rhetoric following it have alienated many of the left and center parties.

An exclusively right-wing coalition would be able to muster a small majority, but the hostility between the secularist right and the religious right would leave it split on a number of issues. A far-right government would also have serious problems internationally, and while including the Kadima party would give them at least some appearance of moderacy but leader Tzipi Livni has repeatedly ruled out the possibility.

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