英闻天下——184 Netanyahu Embarks Forming a Broad Coalition

 　　Netanyahu suffered a heavy blow as his rightwing electoral alliance, Likud-Beiteinu, received only 31 of 120 seats in the next parliament.

 

　　Being the leader of the biggest party, Netanyahu remains¹ on course to continue as prime minister.

 

　　However, forming a stable coalition² will be a tough political challenge for him, according to Dr. Yehuda Ben Meir, Director of National Security and Public Opinion Project at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel.

 

　　"If Netanyahu had 40 members, 40 seats, it will be much easier to make a coalition. He's in a weaker position now because his party lost over 20 percent of membership. His is the leading party, but a party which has basically that even won 50% of the coalition. That is a difficult situation to start up with."

 

　　Netanyahu says he will establish a wide government to face the challenges and goals ahead, and has begun this mission right after the elections.

 

　　"I see many partners to this goal. We will join hands, and with God's help, in cooperation, in a wide government, together we will succeed."

 

　　Among the centre-left bloc³, Yesh Atid, a new centrist party led by the former television personality Yair Lapid, won 19 seats.

 

　　Lapid has voiced firm support for a coalition led by Netanyahu.

 

　　Professor Eytan Gilboa of Bar-Ilan University says the rise of power of centre-left parties could help to establish a more stable and broader government, and Lapid will probably be a very influential⁴ partner in the new coalition government.

 

　　"Netanyahu would like to have a coalition broad enough to help him cope with domestic and international challenges, a centrist party is essential to do that. A centrist party would moderate government policy on issues such as investments, settlement in west bank, and perhaps would help the prime minister to initiate⁵ new steps towards the Palestinians."

 

　　The Netanyahu coalition must be formed within 42 days of the final results.

 

　　For CRI, this is Su Yi.

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

3 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

4 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

5 initiate   

vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入

参考例句：

• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。
• They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。