NEW: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been given the task of forming a new government. He faces an uphill struggle.
Wednesday's decision came after President Reuven Rivlin's attempts to broker a unity government between Netanyahu and his chief rival, Benny Gantz, failed.Netanyahu faces an uphill struggle. After a tight election, his Likud party, along with smaller allied parties, controls 55 seats, short of the required 61-seat majority in parliament.
His former ally, the Yisrael Beitenu party, refuses to sit in a government with Netanyahu's ultra-religious partners. And dovish opposition parties are unlikely to back Netanyahu.———The final results of Israel's repeat election show the ruling Likud party adding an extra seat in parliament, but changes little else about the deadlocked vote. President Reuven Rivlin has now summoned the two front-runners to again discuss a potential unity government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu jumps to 32 of the 120 seats in parliament, one behind his rival Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White party. But since Likud's gain comes at the expense of an allied ultra-Orthodox party, it doesn't change the total of 55 lawmakers who support Netanyahu against the 54 who back Gantz.
With Avigdor Lieberman refusing to let his eight seats endorse either candidate, both Netanyahu and Gantz remain short of the required 61-seat majority.
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