The President picks who tries. The Knesset decides.
Nobody is elected prime minister on election day. The President picks one member of the new Knesset to try to form a government, and it takes office only if the Knesset votes confidence in it.
- Official results
- mié 4 nov
- Central Elections Committee
- Knesset sworn in
- mar 10 nov, 16:00
- 14 days after the vote
- A member tasked by
- mié 11 nov
- 7 days after the results
- Time to form
- 28 days
- Plus up to 14 more
This is the mandate
The President gives one member the task, and a clock starts that day. It is not the job itself: the member becomes prime minister only when the Knesset backs their government.
Walk through it, in order
One member is tasked
The President tasks one member who agrees to try. The member then has 28 days, and the President can add up to 14 more.
If the first try fails
- A second member. If the first fails, the President has three days to task another member, for 28 days with no extension, or to tell the Speaker he sees no way.
- 61 members ask in writing. Within 21 days, a majority can ask the President to task a member of their choice, who then has 14 days.
- A new election. If no one succeeds, the Knesset dissolves and the country votes again within 90 days.
Who can be tasked
- A member of the new Knesset. Any of the 120 elected on 27 October, if they agree to try.
- Not only a list’s leader. It almost always is one, but the law does not require it.
- Recommendations inform but do not bind. The President hears every list, then chooses.
There is no alternate prime minister any more
A 2025 amendment to Basic Law: The Government repealed the alternate prime minister from this Knesset on. Two leaders can still agree to take turns, but only as a political deal the law does not enforce.
So the coalition builder on this site never offers one.
The fine print
Days are counted as the Interpretation Law counts them: the first day does not count, and a period that ends on a rest day runs to the next day. Before the new Knesset is sworn in, the President consults the lists that will sit in it; after, its factions.