Israel's latest election has ended in political deadlock, leaving no clear path to a governing majority.
Analysts have set out four possible scenarios for resolving the impasse, and several news outlets are weighing up ways to break it.
The deadlock
Israelis vote for parties, and seats in the 120-member Knesset are shared out in proportion to each party's vote. This is known as proportional representation. It tends to produce many parties of different sizes rather than a clear winner. A government needs the backing of at least 61 members. No single party has ever won that many on its own, so coalitions are the norm. A coalition is a partnership of several parties that agree to govern together, usually after negotiating over policies and cabinet posts.
A deadlock means no candidate can yet show they have the numbers to assemble one. Parties may be unwilling to sit together, or the blocs that emerge from the vote may be too evenly matched for either to reach 61. A bloc is simply a group of parties that tend to side with one another.
Forming a government
After the results are confirmed, Israel's president consults the parties and asks the member of the Knesset seen as having the best chance of building a majority to try. That person usually leads the largest party, though this is not a rule. Being asked does not make someone prime minister. It only gives them the chance to prove they can win enough support.
The candidate has 28 days to put a coalition together. The president can extend that by up to 14 days. If the candidate fails, the president can turn to someone else, and the law provides further rounds after that. Throughout this period the outgoing government generally stays in place in a caretaker role, handling day-to-day business.
If every attempt fails, the Knesset is dissolved and the country goes back to the polls. We have seen this before. Israel held repeated elections in quick succession in the years from 2019, because voters kept returning similarly split results.
The options
The four scenarios put forward by analysts describe different ways the stalemate could end. They cover the routes the system allows: a candidate finally persuading enough parties to join a coalition, the president handing the task to someone else, parties from rival blocs agreeing to share power, or the process running out of time and sending voters back to the ballot box. Each route depends on whether party leaders are willing to compromise, and on whether the numbers in the Knesset leave any room for them to do so.
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