As of midnight April 15, Israeli politicians have 21 days to avert the country’s fourth consecutive elections.

To recap: Following the third elections on March 2, President Reuven Rivlin gave Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz first crack at forming a government within 28 days. Gantz failed. Rivlin decided he would only hand the mandate to someone endorsed by 61 Knesset members (out of 120). And so, he skipped over Interim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who does not have the required number of endorsements, continuing to the final leg of the electoral process. Thus, Rivlin handed the mandate to the Knesset.

Each of the parliament members now has until May 7 to mobilize 61 lawmakers and form a government. Should one of the 120 achieve this feat, Rivlin will be required by law to let them try their hand. If none of the lawmakers comes up with the required 61 signatures, Rivlin will then declare game over. The 23rd Knesset will automatically disband, and fourth elections will be held three months later, apparently on Aug. 4. Ironically, Gantz, the chair of the Blue and White party who was on the verge of getting a shot at the premiership until April 15 at midnight, will now oversee the Knesset’s efforts to pick a prime minister from his perch as speaker of the parliament.

For now, representatives for Gantz and Netanyahu are continuing the negotiations they have been conducting for almost four weeks on forming a power-sharing, coronavirus emergency government. Gantz, who has not missed a single chance to avoid mistakes during that time period, is trying to resuscitate his remaining options. He is conducting talks with Netanyahu as if a unity government is about to jell but also preparing to push through legislation to block Netanyahu’s way to the premiership should negotiations fail.