Following his apparent defeat in Tuesday’s general election, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid will not lead Israel’s delegation to an upcoming United Nations climate change conference, a senior official has informed Israel National News.
The conference, set to begin on Sunday in Sharm El-Sheikh on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, is scheduled to continue until Friday November 18th.
Lapid had planned on representing Israel at the conference, leading the delegation and speaking at the event.
On Wednesday, however, an official close to the prime minister informed Israel National News that given the results of Tuesday’s election, Lapid has decided not to lead the delegation or to give an address, allowing President Isaac Herzog to represent Israel in his stead.
The Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed the decision.
With 85.9% of the vote counted as of 2:06 p.m. Wednesday, the right-wing bloc allied with Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu currently holds a wide lead over the parties included in the coalition government under Lapid.
The far-left Meretz faction and the Arab nationalist party Balad are both currently under the 3.25% electoral threshold, with Meretz having received 3.19% of the votes counted thus far, compared to 3.01% for Balad.
Should both parties fail to cross the threshold, it would likely result in the right-wing bloc winning several seats beyond the 61 required to form a government.
Based on the latest vote count from the Central Elections Committee, the four parties aligned with Netanyahu have received enough votes to secure 65 seats, compared to 50 seats for the parties in the coalition government, and five more for the Hadash-Ta’al faction in the Opposition.