Well, naturally, he has to negotiate with any prospective partner and decide who gets which positions in the government. He can best do that by refusing to commit himself until an agreement is reached.
But to say that he rules out a left-wing coalition pretty well rules out Labor or Kadima.
Interesting to see what kind of a stand Shas will take on this and whether they will be included in the coalition.
trying to find updates
Yep. At least in this stage of the vote count, with 41 Knesset seats going to Likud + Yisrael Beiteinu, and 41 to Kadima + Labor, Shas with their odd combination of right-wing social, foreign and defense policy views on one hand, and liberal welfarist economic policies on the other, look like they could end up the real kingmakers. And, they’ve always been ready to enter into coalition with Likud, Labor, whoever. Maybe the outstanding military ballots will put Likud over the top, though. I hope!
Yid with Lid classifies Shas as "right wing" Read Here which makes me assume it is more likely to form a coalition with Likud. Go Bibi!
Here is for everybody to observe the difference between parliamentary negotiations and our 2-party system. They (Israel in this case) vote for the party closest to their interests. After the elections, bazaar starts when principals and promises get compromised or at best moderated in order to be included in the government. Even the vote winner has no luxury to do what they want (unless they win more than 50% that never happens). Some small narrow parties don’t even clear the minimum, so the votes for them are totally lost.
In our binary system its different. The fact that we don’t like it neither is besides the point, I am stating the facts. All negotiations are done on the Primary elections level. After that its just one of two (and usually you pick a least worst choice). Our problem is that we don’t have clearly defined factions with leadership and program, and more rely on personalities.
If conservatives want to get to power, the only way to do it is by creating a faction within a Republican coalition (I can’t call it a party, its too big for that). A faction, or a voting block: when some voters unite around a cohesive plan and a structure - not the GOP state machine (its too entrenched into status quo), but more similar to a candidate machine that temporarily pops into existence, but in this case should stay put. (btw Dems have something of this kind: more stable voting blocks of Unions, and interest groups, that conservatives don’t have in such organized form).
There is no system that can allow purity that so many freepers want AND still allow to win wide elections.