Mandating Likud Party leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with forming the next government is a “black day for Israeli democracy”, outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday.

In a statement posted on his party’s Twitter account, Lapid said:

“It is a black day for Israeli democracy, when the prime minister-designate is being blackmailed by his partners, whose whole goal is to rid him of his trial and bring Israel backward.”

Since 2020, Netanyahu has been on trial in corruption cases related to bribery, breach of trust, and fraud.

“We will fight united in the Knesset, in the squares and on bridges until we replace the government of destruction with the government of change,” Yesh Atid’s statement said.

Earlier this month, the ruling coalition government led by Lapid won only 56 seats out of 120 in the Knesset, while Netanyahu’s camp, which includes far-right parties, won 64 seats, and was appointed to form a government.

Netanyahu now has 28 days to form a government, which President Isaac Herzog can extend for another 14 days, and in case he fails, Herzog will mandate another candidate to form a government.

This month’s elections are the fifth in less than four years, amid severe polarization and political instability in Israel.

(MEMO, PC, SOCIAL)