President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday received the official results of the elections to the 23rd Knesset from Chairman of the Central Elections Committee Judge Neil Hendel in a ceremony at Beit HaNasi.
The president addressed the Knesset party heads, saying, “I am hopeful that the 23rd Knesset that will be sworn in next week will last longer than its predecessors, and that the president who stands here to receive the results of the elections to the 24th Knesset will be someone else.”
“There are many who are looking here with hope that answers will come from this house. The answers are for you to find, those who the public elected as its leaders, and I hereby place the task in hands once again,” President Rivlin said.
“This house, and I personally, are at your disposal for any serious and genuine conversation you may wish to hold. Any agreement you are able to come to that produces a stable government that gains the trust of the people will be welcomed,” Rivlin said.
“Among other options, you have the outline I offered at the last elections. I am certainly aware of the criticism of the outline that I presented then, and agree with much of it. But I did not believe there was another way and, even today, the situation has not changed a great deal,” he said, noting that “in the Jewish-democratic equation, every vote counts. In the State of Israel, there are no half-citizens. There are deep disagreements, but no semi-citizens.”
