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Media reports suggest that Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin will ask the leaders of the two main parties, Benjamin Netanyahu and Isaac Herzog, to form a national unity government if next week’s general election proves non-decisive.

Polls indicate that Netanyahu’s Likud and Herzog’s Zionist Union are running neck and neck to become the Knesset’s largest party. Whichever party wins with a slight edge will probably face a difficult process in forming a coalition. Likud is likely to turn to Jewish Home and the ultra-Orthodox parties while Zionist Union would likely recruit Meretz and Yesh Atid. Nonetheless, both would probably require unlikely partners to agree to serve in the same government to form a stable coalition.

Channel Two and Israel Hayom both report that in such a scenario, President Rivlin would suggest a national unity government. As President, it is up to Rivlin to invite a party leader to form a government on the basis of recommendations from the other Knesset factions. Channel Two reports that Rivlin would ask Netanyahu and Herzog to join together and at least change Israel’s electoral system to avoid becoming “another Italy” with regular elections rendering government in a state of almost permanent flux.

However, when Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett suggested last week that Likud would form a coalition government with Zionist Union, Likud released a statement saying “There will not be a unity government and there is no feasibility for such an establishment,” due to sharp ideological differences and declared that “Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will turn to his natural partners, led by Jewish Home, to establish a national government.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu yesterday visited the iconic Machane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, considered a bastion of right-wing and Likud support. Netanyahu commented, “I am happy that our tough policies maintain the security of Jerusalem and bring prosperity to the market.” Herzog took his campaign to Beer Sheva yesterday, reaching out to voters in the southern city where support for Likud is traditionally strong.