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TEL AVIV, Israel — <\/span>Israel\u2019s president officially gives opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form the next government.<\/p>\n THIS IS AN APNewsAlert. Check back for updates. AP’s earlier story is below.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s president has designated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s main rival, Gadi Eisenkot,<\/a> as his choice to form the next government.<\/p>\n President Isaac Herzog announced his decision late Saturday after days of consultations with the parties<\/a> elected to parliament on Oct. 27.<\/p>\n Herzog\u2019s decision is another blow to Netanyahu,<\/a> who lost his parliamentary majority in the election. But it does not guarantee that Eisenkot will be the next prime minister.<\/p>\n After an official ceremony Sunday, Eisenkot will launch complicated negotiations with potential coalition partners. He will have up to six weeks to form a government. At the same time, Netanyahu will try to prevent Eisenkot from succeeding.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a closer look at what lies ahead:<\/p>\n In Israel, people vote for parties,<\/a> which form alliances. A coalition needs to have a majority of at least 61 seats in the 120-member assembly, known as the Knesset, to form a government.<\/p>\n Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot secured a majority in the election. Netanyahu\u2019s coalition plunged from a peak of 68 seats to just 53. The opposition bloc, led by Eisenkot, won 48 seats, and Arab-led parties secured the other 19.<\/p>\n But after his consultations last week, Herzog decided that Eisenkot has the best chance of cobbling together a coalition. That is because the Arab-led parties said they were ready to support him.<\/p>\n It remains unclear, however, whether Eisenkot is willing or able to bring them into a future coalition. After three years of wars in Gaza and across the Middle East, cooperating with Arab-led parties is politically difficult.<\/p>\n Eisenkot has three options: a power-sharing agreement with Netanyahu, support from Arab-led parties<\/a> \u2014 something several members of his bloc do not support \u2014 or an agreement with the ultra-Orthodox parties, which demand military exemptions for their community.<\/p>\n Eisenkot, a former army chief, and his partners made equal military service a central part of their campaign. Specifically, they are seeking an end to the long-standing draft exemptions enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.<\/p>\n After Herzog announced Saturday that he would tap Eisenkot, the candidate vowed to form a government as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n But doing so will almost certainly require compromises or broken promises.<\/p>\n Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed the election was \u201cstolen\u201d by Arab parties,<\/a> which rallied their supporters to vote in large numbers. But he has offered little evidence to support the claims.<\/p>\n Netanyahu is expected to continue his pressure tactics against Eisenkot, saying any alliance with the Arab parties would be an act of betrayal.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s Shin Bet security agency has launched an investigation into possible foreign interference in the vote, but the country\u2019s Central Elections Commission \u2014 and Herzog \u2014 say the vote was valid and even if wrongdoing is found, it did not have a significant impact on the result.<\/p>\n Netanyahu called for a \u201cnational unity\u201d government with Eisenkot on Saturday night. But it remains unclear whether the two rivals could agree on a power-sharing agreement, and these coalitions are fragile and often collapse.<\/p>\n Eisenkot has the option of forming a coalition with the support of the two Arab-led parties, which won an unprecedented 19 seats in the highest Arab election turnout. Only one Arab party<\/a>, Ra\u2019am, has ever joined a governing coalition, in 2021. Ra\u2019am has said it will support Eisenkot, but the party does not have enough seats on its own to push Eisenkot into the majority.<\/p>\n Breaking with decades of precedent, the second Arab-led party, the Joint List, said it will support Eisenkot from outside the coalition to end Netanyahu\u2019s grip on power. <\/p>\n