The leaders of Israel's center-left parties are quarreling between themselves, blaming each other for the loss of the elections and for paving the way for the right-religious bloc to return to power.
As such, the National Unity party will not recommend Yesh Atid chief Yair Lapid, who has served since the dissolution of the previous Knesset as caretaker prime minister, as a candidate for the formation of the next government.
Yesh Atid will recommend Lapid for the position of prime minister, and the Labor party will recommend him as well.
National Unity, headed by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, will recommend no one for the role.
Israel's President Isaac Herzog will begin consultations on Wednesday with all parliamentary groups elected to the 25th Knesset, allowing each group to recommend a candidate of its choice for the position of prime minister. Following this, Herzog will tap the candidate with the highest number of recommendations to form the next coalition.
Explaining his party's position, outgoing Construction and Housing Minister Ze'ev Elkin (National Unity) told Galei Zahal, "Certainly, we will not recommend [MK Benjamin] Netanyahu (Likud), but to recommend someone else, with these results, is pathetic. The results of the elections are clear and there is no reason to play pretend."
"We have no problem cooperating with Yesh Atid, we did that for the entire past year, and we will do it in the opposition as well. They do not need us in order to criticize Lapid's behavior during the election campaign - every analyst is doing that."
Outgoing Deputy Defense Minister Alon Schuster, also of National Unity, told 103 FM Radio, said, "Right now there is a clear option for Netanyahu to form a government, and no one else seems capable, thus our decision, like that of other parties in the bloc, is not to recommend anyone."
Regarding a unity government with the Likud, Schuster added, "It will not happen, it will not be. The people have made their statements. We lost the elections, we need to serve the public with pride and joy, from the opposition."