Abbas Reportedly Sees Little Chance of a Ra’am-Backed Minority Government

Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas reportedly told an internal party consultation on Thursday, October 29, that there was little prospect of forming a minority government with his party’s support. The assessment concerned the proposed parliamentary route to a government, rather than an announced agreement or a completed decision on who would form it. Abbas reportedly described the chance of such a government as “slim to nonexistent.” His remarks were reported that evening, after talks earlier in the day between Abbas and Democrats leader Yair Golan. The reported assessment did not include an explicit announcement that Ra’am would refuse all outside support for a government. A statement issued after the Golan–Abbas meeting said they had discussed building a partnership and exploring the possibilities for forming a government. Golan also reportedly met Yair Lapid and Gadi Eisenkot separately after his meeting with Abbas. Those contacts were separate from the internal Ra’am consultation in which Abbas’s assessment was reported. The minority-government option under discussion envisaged Eisenkot leading a government with Ra’am supporting it from outside and the Joint List abstaining. Reporting at that stage put Netanyahu’s bloc at 53 seats, the opposing bloc at 48, Ra’am at 8 and the Joint List at 11. These were the parliamentary figures cited in the discussion of that proposal.