Lapid met with Peres: "No games, recommend Netanyahu"

The President began a round of consultations with representatives of the parties this evening. The first parties whose representatives came to the President's home to consult with Shimon Peres were Likud - Beiteinu and Yesh Atid.

The Likud-Beiteinu representatives - Gideon Sa'ar, Gilad Ardan, David Rotem, Yuval Steinitz and Ze'ev Elkin - arrived first at the Presidential Residence. At the start of the meeting with representatives of the Likud Beiteinu, President Peres said: "I received the election results a few minutes ago and you are the largest party in the 19th Knesset. I would like to congratulate you that the elections were held in a dignified way. The nation can be proud of its electives".

Gideon Sa'ar told Peres already at the start of the meeting that the party will recommend Binyamin Netanyahu as the most suitable candidate to form a government, and that he believes that the government should be as broad as possible.

After the end of the meeting, Gideon Saar said: "The political reality is clear and shows that only one candidate, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu can form a government and therefore our recommendation to the President was as such. We held a conversation with the President on a variety of topics, including the issue of equality of burden, the Israeli economy, the issue of Iran, and we got his references to these issues. "

Next to arrive were the Yesh Atid party representatives, led by Yair Lapid, Mickey Levy, Pninah Tamno and Yifat Kariv.

The President greeted and said: "I want to congratulate you on the achievement in these elections - 19 seats, and on the fact that you refrained from a negative campaign and acted with statehood. You presented an alternative, now you 'have a future', not only a past, and I am also proud of the number of women represented on your list."

After the consultation, which was held behind closed doors, Yair Lapid said: "Yesh Atid's platform states that the one who should form the government, is the head of the largest party. We won't play any games - we recommend Netanyahu. We meant it, and that is what I and the three MKs with me now recommended to the President - we believe that is what's good for Israel. This does not mean that we sit in the coalition, nothing is definite yet. "

Tomorrow morning the round of discussions will be renewed with the arrival of representatives of the Labor Party, who will not recommend any candidate. Later in the day, representatives of the Jewish Home, Shas and United Torah Judaism will sit with Peres, who will all recommend all the incumbent prime minister.

Prior to the meetings, the President received the election results.

The President said: "The election campaign was conducted in a dignified manner, without violence and disorderly conduct, and I congratulate the citizens of Israel who realized their civic duty with dignity and their participation in practice in shaping the future of the country. The election campaign is also an educational one, in style and contents. It is a national lesson in democracy. In democracy, as we know, there are different opinions and different parties but when necessary it knows to rise above and unite as one people."

The President thanked the members of the Election Committee and said: "You are the ones who headed the campaign, members of the Election Committee. You performed the hard and complex work in a remarkable way. Allow me a personal word. I know the Judge Elyakim Rubinstein for many years. I even had the privilege to attend his wedding, which created a family of lawyers. When I heard you, my friend, Elyakim Rubinstein, will head the Central Election Commission, I knew it would be run with maximal responsibility, fairness and intellectual honesty, and so it was. The gratitude of the nation is given to you."

Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Eliakim Rubinstein said: "It occurred to me before, during the gathering of the committee, that we are on the eighth day after the elections, according to the law. And the committee is a type of midwife in the pregnancy of the election and the newborn was born, and today is the Bris, and I wish the Knesset – "le'Torah, lechupah u'lema'asim tovim".

"The number of those enfranchised was 5,656,705 of which 3,833,646 voted. Approximately 67.79% close to 68%.'s This is a much large percentage than the 18th Knesset general election which was about 64.7%.

"During the election campaign we encountered racism. I would like to raise my voice and light red lights in front of such phenomena in Israel. There should in my opinion, to be an all-Israeli consensus to gag them, Israel is a Jewish and democratic state established after the Holocaust and without comparing there is no place for these things."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!