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Newly elected Israeli legislators sworn into office

Xinhua, April 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israel's Knesset, the parliament, inaugurated on Tuesday 120 recently elected members.

Among those taking the oath of office as the country's lawmakers, 39 are new to the legislature.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party received 30 out in the 120-seat parliament, followed by the Zionist Camp, which won 24 seats in the recent elections.

Netanyahu has been tasked with the mission to form the next government by President Reuven Rivlin after the sitting prime minister managed to get the support of 67 parliament members, which makes him the top candidate for the job.

While addressing a special Knesset session, Rivlin called on Netanyahu and the parties concerned to end their talks over the formation of the coalition government as soon as possible.

"I call on all parties to strive to end the negotiations as soon as possible. The entire political system is paralyzed and with each day that passes takes a heavy toll upon the Israeli people," Rivlin said in his speech, broadcast in the Knesset TV channel.

He also urged the members of the new parliament to faithfully represent their voters and work to heal the rifts in the Israeli society between different groups. Endit