At this point, it is unclear whether the outcome of the April 9 elections will resolve Israel’s current political predicament and permit the formation of a new government. According to polling, despite experiencing somewhat weakening momentum, the new Blue and White alliance, led by Lt. Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, is still running ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud by the equivalent of five to seven seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

Nonetheless, Blue and White does not appear likely to obtain enough support from other parties to form a coalition government. At best, with the Arab parties on board, it would be able to form a bloc preventing Netanyahu from forming the next government. Given that the prospects are non-existent for forming a coalition government with the support of the parties representing Israel’s 21% Arab minority — it has never happened nor will it — the elections could result in a political tie, a dead end with neither side constituting the majority needed for a governing coalition.

Likud could still, of course, pull ahead of Blue and White and form a narrow right-wing coalition similar to Netanyahu’s current government. This scenario is looking unlikely, however. Another highly unlikely scenario is for Blue and White to divert votes equivalent to five to seven seats from the Likud to provide the center-left the necessary majority for a coalition government.

Such stalemates have in the past been resolved by forming national unity governments. It happened twice in the 1980s and once on the eve of the 1967 war, which placed Israel under existential threat. The situation in 2019, however, is very different.