JERUSALEM, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Thursday reaching coalition agreements with political allies, a dispute over the appointment of vice prime minister is stalling their finalization.
On Thursday afternoon, members of the Likud Party met with representatives from Yesh Atid and the Jewish Home, the two major future coalition partners, and announced that the agreements previously reached regarding the appointment of deputy prime minister have been revoked, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Both parties' chiefs were said to receive the vice premiere position, sources in both parties told the newspaper.
Despite plans for a triple meeting of Netanyahu, Yesh Atid's head Yair Lapid and the Jewish Home's head Naftali Bennet to seal the deal throughout the day, the meeting has been continuously postponed and members of Yesh Atid and the Jewish Home have expressed their resentment towards the regression in the talks.
However, Likud-Beytenu negotiator Moshe Leon told the Channel 2 news Thursday evening that he believes that all the finale details will be sorted out and a final agreement would be signed on Friday.
The Likud-Beytenu party led by Netanyahu won 31 out of the 120 seats in the parliament in the Jan. 22 elections.
The center Yesh Atid party and the far-right Jewish Home Party, both running for the first time in the Israeli elections, received the same amount of votes combined.
Lapid and Bennet formed a union and refused to enter Netanyahu' s coalition without the other, forcing Netanyahu to rule out the ultra-Orthodox from his next government due to the two's stance advocating conscription of ultra-Orthodox men into the army, as well as making other concessions.
Israeli President Shimon Peres appointed Netanyahu to build a coalition in February following the results of the elections and after 80 lawmakers recommended him for the task.
He was initially given 28 days to reach a coalition deal. On March 2 he received a two-week extension, ending on Saturday. If a coalition deal is reached and signed by this time, it is believed that the new government would be inaugurated on Monday.
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