Israeli lawmakers said they will back the formation of a unity government between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz Thursday to end a deadlock that lasted more than a year. Parliament voted by 71 votes to 37 to back the coalition deal that will see rightwinger Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, a centrist former military leader, share power. The two men have said they will swear in their new administration on May 13, with Netanyahu remaining leader for 18 months, before handing over to Gantz, AFP reported. Earlier, opponents were arguing that Netanyahu was ineligible to rule due to a series of corruption indictments and also complained that certain provisions in the coalition deal broke the law. However, the court ruled on Wednesday evening "there was no legal reason to prevent the formation of a government" led by Netanyahu. It added that by approving the coalition it "was not seeking to diminish the severity of the charges" against Netanyahu, but concluded that those could be handled in his trial, which is due to begin on May 24. Netanyahu has been written off by pundits and rivals many times since taking power in 2009, but the man sometimes dubbed "the magician" has invariably found a route to remain in power. Israel has been without a stable government since December 2018, with the country seeing three successive elections in which Gantzs centrist Blue and White and Netanyahus Likud were near neck-and-neck. During that time Netanyahu has remained in power in a caretaker capacity. He has also been charged with accepting improper gifts and illegally trading favors in exchange for positive media coverage. According to AFP, he denies wrongdoing but if the trial goes ahead as planned will become the first serving Israeli leader to be tried. Lawmakers were expected to vote later Thursday to ask President Reuven Rivlin to grant Netanyahu a mandate to form a government. He will then have a short period to wrap up weeks of bickering about the allocation of ministerial posts and finalize his cabinet line-up.