Earlier Thursday, Chaim Bibas, chairman of the Local Government Association, and Shai Hajaj, head of the Regional Government Forum, issued a public call to party leaders urging them to work toward forming a unity government in light of the election results. "We, the heads of local and regional government in Israel, call on the party leaders to convene together and work to establish a broad national unity government," Bibas and Hajaj said. "This is the order of the hour."
According to the two officials, "The State of Israel faces security and political challenges, and requires functional continuity and stable leadership. The public has exhausted the repeated election cycles, and the time has come for a decision. Another election round will not change the picture, and may only deepen the rift among the people."
They added a direct appeal to party leaders: "We do not expect you to give up your worldview or blur the differences between you. A healthy democracy needs disagreements, public debate and representation of a variety of opinions. But disagreement cannot become a permanent boycott, and ideological differences cannot be an excuse for paralysis of the system."
