Israeli President Isaac Herzog is urging the country's political leaders to do everything possible to avoid another election. Speaking on Wednesday at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, in his first public comments since the vote, he said that after what happened on Tuesday, everyone who comes to see him should arrive with an open mind. Herzog said he expects to receive the official election results next week from Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg. After that he will begin consultations with each Knesset faction on forming a new government. He also praised the unusually high turnout as a badge of honor for Israeli society.

The warning comes because the count so far has left no clear winner. With more than 85 percent of ballots counted, the Likud-led bloc stood at 53 seats, the Eisenkot-led opposition bloc at 48, and the Arab parties at 19, while 61 seats are needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected any government that relies on Arab parties, and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot has set conditions that those parties have not yet accepted. That puts Herzog, who decides whom to task with forming a government, at the center of a tense standoff. The big question is whether party leaders will actually bend, or whether Israel is heading back to the polls.