Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli prime minister and head of the Likud party, speaks to his supporters after the first exit poll results for the Israeli parliamentary election at his party's headquarters in Jerusalem on November 2, 2022. OREN ZIV AP JERUSALEM - Israeli former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked President Isaac Herzog for an extension of his mandate to form a new coalition government, his Likud party said in a statement.
The statement said that the Likud submitted to Herzog a request for additional 14 days to form a coalition government.
The president has yet to announce his decision. If he refuses to approve the request, Netanyahu's 28 day mandate would expire at midnight between Saturday and Sunday.
The negotiations are in full swing and there has been a lot of progress, Netanyahu wrote in the request, adding that he still needs more time to form a new government.
He said that the extension is needed because of the remaining issues with the appointment of some ministers.
On Thursday, the Likud announced that it has signed an interim agreement with Shas, a Jewish ultra-Orthodox party, to secure a comfortable 64 seat majority in the 120 seat parliament.
Shas chairman Aryeh Deri will head the interior and health ministries for the first half of the government's term, before taking over the position of finance minister. A final coalition agreement is yet to be signed.
Netanyahu signed an interim coalition agreement with the United Torah Judaism, another ultra-Orthodox party, while three ultra-nationalist parties — the Religious Zionism, Jewish Power and Noam — already signed full coalition agreements.
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader, is expected to return to power a year and a half after he was ousted, thanks to the Nov 1 parliamentary elections in which he and his far-right partners won a majority.
The Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar urged the president not to grant an extension. Sa'ar wrote on Twitter that the actual formation of the government has already been completed.