Jerusalem
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin began two days of crucial talks Sunday with representatives of all parliamentary factions before selecting his candidate for prime minister, after a deadlocked repeat election was set to make forming any new government a daunting task. Israel’s largely ceremonial president is tasked with picking the politician with the best chance of forming a stable coalition government. While usually a mere formality, this time Rivlin plays a key role after an election result in which neither of the top candidates has an outright majority. “The president, in this case, will be very, very involved in the particulars. He will ask for clear answers,” Harel Tubi, the president’s top aide, told Israel’s Army Radio.
