The anti-Netanyahu bloc is considering appointing Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid as Knesset speaker in two weeks if it succeeds in forming a coalition, KAN News reported on Wednesday evening.
Lapid, one of the bloc’s leaders, is second on the B’Yachad list headed by Naftali Bennett and is not running for prime minister.
The bloc includes Yashar, B’Yachad, Yisrael Beytenu, and the Democrats and is expected to enter the Knesset with 48 seats, according to Central Elections Committee data.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli media reported that the bloc was discussing replacing the Knesset speaker. According to N12, bloc leaders aim to agree on a candidate and carry out the replacement as early as the Knesset swearing-in ceremony.
However, no previous reports on the bloc's choice of Knesset Speaker indicated consensus on who the speaker would be.
Several days before the election, bloc leaders were reportedly already working toward a broad agreement to replace Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana before a coalition deal was reached.
Israel election results: Netanyahu bloc wins 53 seats, opposition holds 48, Arab parties skyrocket
The Central Elections Committee (CEC) announced on Wednesday morning, after almost five million votes were counted, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc is expected to enter the Knesset with 53 seats.
Netanyahu's Likud is projected to enter with 26 seats, while United Torah Judaism, Shas, and Otzma Yehudit are expected to enter with seven seats, and the Religious Zionist Party is expected to enter with six seats, respectively.
The opposition bloc, comprising Yashar, B’Yachad, Yisrael Beytenu, and the Democrats, is expected to enter the Knesset with 48 seats, according to CEC data.
Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar is projected to enter the Knesset with 21 seats. B'Yachad, led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, is expected to enter with 12 seats. Yair Golan's Democrats are expected to enter the Knesset with eight seats, and Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu with seven.
The latest CEC results put 19 seats for the Arab parties, with the Joint List at 12 and Ra'am at 7 in the next Knesset.
Keshet Neev contributed to this report.