The Supreme Court of Israel has unanimously struck down petitions seeking to block Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been indicted on corruption charges, from forming a coalition government with his former rival Benny Gantz, Haaretz reports.

Axios: “The decision paves the way for the new government to be sworn in on May 13, bringing an end to more than a year of political deadlock in which Israel was forced to hold three consecutive elections.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and his former challenger, Benny Gantz, agreed Monday night to establish a unity government, a deal that finally breaks a yearlong political impasse and keeps Mr. Netanyahu in office as he faces trial on corruption charges,” the New York Times reports.

“The Israeli president on Thursday handed the task of forming a government to Parliament, starting a 21-day countdown that could lead to new elections, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival, Benny Gantz, missed another midnight deadline to reach a power-sharing agreement,” the New York Times reports.

“Keir Starmer has promised to rebuild the nation’s trust in the Labour party after winning a stunning victory to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as leader,” The Guardian reports.

“By securing 56.2% of the votes of almost half a million Labour members and affiliates, he has emerged with a huge and powerful mandate to lead the party as he chooses, after four-and-a-half years of the Corbyn project, during which two general elections were lost.”

“Blue and White leader Benny Gantz officially received the mandate to form a government from President Reuven Rivlin on Monday afternoon at the President’s Residence, receiving four weeks to build a coalition,” the Jerusalem Post reports.

“It was the second time Gantz received the mandate. He failed to form a government after the September election.”

“France is holding nationwide elections Sunday to choose all of its mayors and other local leaders despite a crackdown on public gatherings because of the new virus,” ABC News reports.

“Voting stations opened just as a drastic new order came into effect shutting down all of France’s restaurants, museums, and most stores to stem the spreading coronavirus. The country has some 4,500 cases, including 91 people who have died.”

“With all votes counted, Israel’s election results indicate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud is the largest party – but the right-wing bloc has failed to secure a 61-seat majority to form a government. Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan party trails behind the Likud by several seats,” Haaretz reports.

The result marks no end in sight for political deadlock.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post reports Netanyahu suffered another blow “when Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman endorsed Blue and White leader Benny Gantz’s efforts to pass a law that would prevent an indicted MK from forming a government.”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc beat Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party-led Center-Left bloc in Israel’s third election on Monday winning 59 seats needed for a majority in the Knesset, according to exit polls on the major television networks,” the Jerusalem Post reports.

“While Netanyahu fell short of the 61 majority needed to form a ruling coalition, he is expected to begin immediately trying to recruit two defectors from the Center-Left camp who he would need to form a government.”

Axios: “The exit polls are not official results, but they project a strong performance from Netanyahu in Israel’s third elections in 10 months despite a looming corruption trial.”

“Emmanuel Macron’s candidate for Paris mayor pulled out of the race Friday after the publication of a sexually explicit video on social media sites, further complicating the French president’s attempt to gain a foothold in local elections next month,” Bloomberg reports.

“Ireland’s three biggest political parties are likely to face a difficult process of forming a new government, with an exit poll suggesting they finished in a virtual dead heat in parliamentary elections Saturday,” the AP reports.

The biggest surprise of the three partiers: “While Sinn Fein is a major force in Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom region where it is part of the power-sharing government that helped end decades of sectarian violence, it has long been a minor player south of the border in the Irish Republic. But the party has attracted voters with left-wing proposals for tackling Ireland’s housing crisis and bolstering the nation’s creaking health-care system.”

“When Marine Le Pen was crushed by Emmanuel Macron in France’s 2017 presidential election, the far-right leader looked as if she had suffered permanent political damage,” the Financial Times reports.

“But with Mr Macron deeply unpopular and French party politics in a state of upheaval, Ms Le Pen has bounced back — and polls suggest she has a strong chance of taking her comeback all the way to the Elysée Palace.”

Early figures put incumbent leader Tsai Ing-wen ahead of her main rival Han Kuo-yu in the Taiwan presidential race, the South China Morning Post reports.

Axios: “As Taiwan’s January 11 presidential election approaches, the Chinese government is spreading disinformation and taking coercive political maneuvers aimed at convincing voters Taiwan is helpless without China.”

Nikkea Asian Review: Five things to know a day before Taiwan elections.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel easily brushed off a challenge for the leadership of the conservative Likud party early Friday, a crucial victory for Israel’s longest-serving leader but one that may only harden the country’s yearlong political standoff,” the New York Times reports.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: “​Britain is suddenly the only big country in western Europe with a fully functional government able to take radical measures and sweep aside resistance. France, Germany, Italy and Spain are all in political turmoil or have a paralyzed executive.  The center is crumbling everywhere – but not in Britain. A one-nation Tory running on a green, social democrat economic program has pulled off the feat of uniting a blue collar north and an affluent south.”

“The world press and left-academia got that narrative badly wrong. This political asymmetry between a unified, confident, well-armed British government and a demoralised, splintered Continent matters enormously. Brussels can no longer play the divide and rule game in Westminster, or indeed with the Tory party itself.​”​

Andrew Sullivan: “Instead of sticking to getting Brexit done in Parliament, he called an early election to give himself a clear mandate for it. By fighting on the genius and simple slogan ‘Get Brexit Done,’ he exposed the deep divides on the left, unified the right, and knocked his opponents for six (if you will forgive a cricket metaphor). But just as important, he moved the party sharply left on austerity, spending on public services, tax cuts for the working poor, and a higher minimum wage. He outflanked the far right on Brexit and shamelessly echoed the left on economic policy.”