Netanyahu misses deadline

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday failed to meet a deadline to put together a new governing coalition, raising the possibility his Likud party could be pushed into the Opposition for the first time in 12 years.

The deadline closed a fourweek window granted to Netanyahu by Israel’s figurehead president. The matter now bounces back to President Reuven Rivlin, who announced yesterday morning that he would contact the 13 parties with seats in parliament to discuss ‘‘the continuation of the process of forming a government’’.

Rivlin is expected in the coming days to give one of Netanyahu’s opponents a chance to form an alternative coalition government. He also could ask the parliament to select one of its own members as prime minister. If all else fails, the country would be forced into another election, the fifth in just over two years.

The turmoil does not mean Netanyahu will immediately be forced out as prime minister. But he now faces a serious threat to his lengthy rule. His opponents, despite deep ideological differences, have already been holding informal talks in recent weeks in hopes of forging a powersharing agreement.

Netanyahu had struggled to secure a parliamentary majority since March 23, when elections ended in deadlock for the fourth consecutive time in the past two years.