Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with MK Nir Barkat, the former mayor of Jerusalem, on Sunday, but the latter will not be appointed minister at this time.
In a statement released after the meeting, Netanyahu said, "I met with MK Nir Barkat, whom I greatly appreciate. Nir Barkat deserves senior positions in both the Likud and the government. "
"Unfortunately, this did not help before the government inauguration. I will make a great effort to integrate MK Barkat into a senior government position down the road," Netanyahu added.
Barkat is the second of the top ten members of the Likud list who will not be sworn in as a minister today, after it became clear earlier that Gideon Sa'ar would not be sworn in as minister.
Senior Likud officials who will apparently be left out of the government today are Gideon Sa'ar (5th place on the Likud list), Nir Barkat (9th place), Avi Dichter (11th place) and Tzachi Hanegbi (15th place).
On the eve of the election, Netanyahu had pledged to appoint Barkat as finance minister after the elections, but later reneged on the promise, claiming that it was conditional on the formation of a right-wing government.