Construction and Housing Minister Ze'ev Elkin (National Unity) emphasized that regardless of how many Knesset seats interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party receives, he will not be able to form a government.
In an interview with Israel Hayom, Elkin explained, "Lapid, according to all the numbers, cannot form a government. It does not matter how many seats he receives, because he is not able to cross [the divide between] the blocs. His only option is a government with the Joint Arab List, and this is an option which we will not be part of."
According to Elkin, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who heads National Unity, "is the only person who people from both blocs are willing to work with and who can unite [them] and form a government."
Elkin also said that he believes Lapid's stubbornness will lead to sixth elections, which will take place while he still serves as interim Prime Minister.
"It is clear that the continuation of the existing option is his only option to be prime minister, without claiming that he is doing this on purpose," Elkin told Israel Hayom. "There is no other option where he can form a government led by him - only a continuation of a caretaker government."
When asked about his party's relatively low number of seats, Elkin said, "Since the merger, we are the third-largest party, and since we merged, [Likud chief MK Benjamin] Netanyahu does not reach 61 [Knesset seats], so the goals of stopping Netanyahu and creating a third option to the two options of a Netanyahu government or sixth elections have been achieved."