Politics

President Peres began consultations with representatives of the political parties.  The first to arrive to the President's Residence were Likud-Beitenu and Yesh Atid who recommended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
The President of the State of Israel, President Shimon Peres, began consultations this evening with representatives of the parties elected to the 19th Knesset. The first two parties were "Likud-Beitenu" and "Yesh Atid" whose representatives came to the residence to meet with President Peres.
The representatives of "Likud-Beitenu" Gideon Sa'ar, Gilad Erdan, David Rotem, Yuval Steinitz and Ze'ev Elkin arrived at the president's residence and were the first party to meet with the president. The sequence of meetings is determined by the size of the faction in the Knesset. At the beginning of the meeting President Peres said, "A few moments ago I received the official results and you are the largest faction in the 19th Knesset. I wish to congratulate you as the elections were conducted in a proper manner. The voters can be proud of their representatives." President Peres emphasized that he would conduct consultations with every party with patience but with the aim of concluding the process as fast as possible, "I intend to consult with every party without depriving any party of the opportunity to voice their opinion; that is my duty according to the law."
Gideon Sa'ar informed President Peres at the beginning of the meeting that Likud-Beitenu will recommend Benjamin Netanyahu as the most appropriate Knesset member to form the government, and that he believes that the government should be as broad as possible. Following the meeting Gideon Sa'ar delivered a statement to the media and said, "The political reality is clear, only one candidate, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, can form a government and so we recommended him to President Peres. We held a conversation with President Peres on a range of issues including sharing the national burden, the Israeli economy and the Iranian threat, and we received his thoughts on the issues."
The second party to meet with President Peres was "Yesh Atid." The representatives of the party were led by Yair Lapid and included Mickey Levy, Pnina Tamano-Shata and Yifat Kariv. President Peres congratulated the members of Yesh Atid at the start of the meeting and said, "I wish to congratulate you on your achievements in this election, 19 seats and you avoided a negative campaign. You presented an alternative, today you have a future, not only a past, and I am especially proud of the number of female representatives on your list."
 
After the consultation meeting which was held behind closed doors, Chairman of Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid delivered a statement to the press and said, "In Yesh Atid's platform it is written that the person who should form the government is the head of the largest party. We meant it, and that is what I, and the three Knesset members with me, recommended to President Peres – we believe that is what is good for the State of Israel. That does not mean we will sit in the coalition, nothing is finalized yet."