There is a sense of ease among members of Yahadut Hatorah as it now appears final; the party has received the controversial eighth Knesset seat which had been taken from the party during the initial recount of ballots. According to Avraham Yustman, attorney and the party’s representative to the Central Election Committee, the eighth seat is final.

Yustman explains that every vote is critical, and in this case, 71 votes made the difference.

MK Gafne said, “Baruch Hashem we have been informed by the Central Election Committee that we received the eighth seat and we have received the Siyata Dishmaya for this marvelous hatzlacha. I give a bracha to Rav Yitzchak Pindrus who was a loyal member and shaliach and his work will undoubtedly lead to Kiddush Hashem.”

It has also been finalized that Likud drops from 36 to 35 seats, the same as the Blue and White party.

The official results are:
Shas 8
Yahadut Hatorah 8
Hadash-Ta’al 6
Labor 6
Yisrael Beitenu 5
United Right-Wing 5
Meretz 4
Kulanu 4
Ra’am-Ta’al 4

The New Right party received 22 additional votes in the recount and are missing 1,454 to cross the election threshold.

President Rivlin on Tuesday met with the representatives of the parties, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu received 65 recommendations for the mandate to form a coalition government while Benny Gantz, who heads the Blue and White party, received only 45..

The following faction representatives visited with the president on Tuesday:

Labor party
Members of the Labor faction – party head Avi Gabbai, MKs Amir Peretz, Itzik Shmuli and Stav Shafir and MK-elect Tal Russo informed the president that they recommend Benny Gantz be entrusted with forming the government.

Yisrael Beiteinu party 
MKs-elect Evgeni Sova, Eli Avidar and Yulia Malinovsky, party director Ina Zilbergratz and faction manager Roman Gurwitz. Yisrael Beiteinu informed the president that they recommend Netanyahu be entrusted with forming the government.

United Right party 
MKs-elect Rafi Peretz, Ofir Sofer and Edit Silman and MKs Betzalel Smotrich, Moti Yogev – were next to arrive. After they informed the president that they recommend Netanyahu form the next government, the president said “with your recommendation, you have formed a majority of the people in favor of the candidate. Your recommendation is of great significance to the discussions we are holding here.”

Meretz party 
MK Tamar Zandberg, MKs Ilan Gilon, Michal Rozin and Esawi Frij, director of the party Tomer Reznik and faction manager Ronit Haikin Yaakobi. Meretz recommended Benny Gantz.

Kulanu party
MKs Roi Folkman and Tali Ploskov, party director Yoav Rafael and the party’s legal advisor Sahar Pinto. The representatives of Kulanu informed the president that they recommend Benjamin Netanyahu form the next government

Ra’am-Balad party
MKs Mansour Abbas, Mtanes Shehade, Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yihye, MK-elect Heba Yazbek and outgoing MKs Jamal Zahalka and Masud Ganaim, they chose not to recommend an MK to be entrusted with forming the next government.

At the end of the second day of consultations, HaNasi, 65 members of the 21st Knesset recommended Binyamin Netanyahu be entrusted with the formation of the new government. 45 members of the new Knesset recommended that MK-elect Benny Gantz be given the task, and 10 MKs requested not to make a recommendation.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)