“There is no reason not to,” was Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s reasoning for why she agreed to further talks, even though she has repeatedly said she has no intention of joining a Netanyahu-led coalition. Without the Kadima party Likud would be stuck trying to form a far-right coalition with a narrow majority and a lot of internal animosity.

But firebrand Likud member Moshe Feiglin wouldn’t have it any other way. The Netanyahu rival publicly condemned the notion of a unity government today, saying voters had chosen a right-wing government and that to do otherwise “equals a bullet to democracy’s head.”