Kathmandu, June 14. Naftali Bennett has been sworn in as the Israeli prime minister on Sunday. He is the leader of right-wing Yamina (United Right) party.

Predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu had been ruling Israel for 12 years when the vote of confidence voted him out. In the vote of confidence held in the parliament earlier, 60 lawmakers of the 120-member chamber voted in favor of the new government while 59 voted against it.

Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid have formed a coalition government and will rotate as the prime minister on a two-year base. Lapid will currently serve as Israel’s alternate prime minister and foreign minister.

The new coalition includes eight parties which also includes the Islamist Ra’am party, the first Arab faction to be included in a governing coalition in Israel.

Netanyahu said, “If it’s our destiny to be in the opposition, we’ll do so with our heads high until we take down this bad government and return to lead the country our way”.

Leaders from around the world, including US President Biden and German chancellor Merkel has sent congratulatory messages to Bennett upon his win.

Israeli President had held talks for new PM in April

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin had held talks with all elected parties to help form a new government amid yet another round of inconclusive elections in the country in April earlier this year.

In the meetings, the parties recommended which candidate the president should task with forming the next government.

“The main consideration that will guide me is entrusting a lawmaker with the task who has the best chance of forming a government that will have the confidence of the new parliament,” Rivlin said in televised remarks at the beginning of the talks.

In the elections held on March 23, neither Netanyahu’s allies nor his rivals gained enough votes to secure a 61-seat coalition. It was already the fourth elections in Israel in the past two years amid a lingering political stalemate.