Jerusalem: Israel's former Labor chairman and veteran politician Isaac Herzog was selected by the Parliament on Wednesday as the next Israeli President, a largely ceremonial position.
Speaker of the Knesset (Parliament) Yariv Levin announced in a broadcast statement that Herzog was elected after winning votes of 87 lawmakers, while his rival Miriam Peretz, a conservative educator and a settler, won the votes of 26 lawmakers.
Herzog, aged 60, is a former head of Israel’s Labor Party and opposition leader who unsuccessfully ran against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2013 parliamentary elections. Herzog has served as head of the Jewish Agency, a nonprofit that works closely with the government to promote immigration to Israel, for the past three years since resigning from parliament. He was widely seen as the favorite because of his deep ties to the political establishment. He will hold office for a single seven-year term starting July 9.
Netanyahu's opponents faced a midnight deadline Wednesday to put together a new coalition government. If they fail, the country could be plunged into another election campaign.
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