When the 120 members of the Israeli Knesset are sworn in today, as the parliament reconvenes after last month's elections, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party colleagues will still take their seats at the front of the house, in the chairs reserved for government ministers.
Three weeks have passed since Israel decisively rejected Mr Netanyahu's attempt to secure a second term of office, but their chosen prime minister, the One Israel party leader, Mr Ehud Barak, has yet to cobble together a majority coalition.
Mr Barak told his party's new crop of Knesset members yesterday that the coalition talks were proceeding smoothly, but estimated it might take him another 10 days to finalise accords with One Israel's intended partners in government. Formally, he has until the beginning of July.
In interminable talks since election day, Mr Barak and his coalition task-force have drafted a government platform that is apparently near to being accepted by the no fewer than seven parties that seem most likely to join One Israel (with its 26 seats) in government - the left-wing Meretz (10 seats), the fiercely secular Shinui (six seats), the workers' rights One Nation (two seats), the Centre Party (six seats), the Russian immigrant Yisrael Ba'aliya (six seats), the Orthodox, pro-settlement National Religious Party (five seats) and the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (five seats).
If they all come on board, they would give Mr Barak a 66-strong coalition.
Not surprisingly, in this constellation of such diverse forces, there are still arguments to be resolved, chiefly over the status of the settlements and the future of ultra-Orthodox draft-dodgers.
A published draft of the intended government platform states that "no new settlements will be established, and no existing settlements will be harmed", at least until a permanent peace deal is negotiated with the Palestinians, and that settlements will be stripped of the preferential economic status bestowed upon them by Mr Netanyahu's government.
Several of the potential coalition partners strongly object to this change of status; others would strongly object were the preferential status to be retained.
Similarly, United Torah Judaism firmly opposes the drafting of tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox men who study Jewish texts full-time in yeshivot (religious schools) rather than serving in the army. But Mr Barak's left-wing allies are demanding that many, if not most, be conscripted.
Other problems are almost certain to arise in the course of this week, when Mr Barak settles down to the knotty issue of allocating government jobs to all these parties. Aides to the prime minister-elect say he intends to increase the number of cabinet posts from the 18 under Mr Netanyahu to 24.
Mr Barak told his party colleagues yesterday that "the door is still open" to both Mr Netanyahu's defeated Likud party and the ultra-Orthodox Shas. "I would be pleased if the circumstances arose that would enable their participation," he said.
A Likud presence in government would conform to Mr Barak's pledge to be "prime minister of all the people". To that end, he held talks yesterday with the Likud's interim leader, Mr Ariel Sharon. On past record, it seems hard to envisage Mr Sharon energetically supporting another theme of the draft government platform - a pledge to "work to speed up the negotiations with the Palestinians . . . and to honour and implement the agreements Israel has signed with the Palestinians".
And yet a jovial Mr Sharon emerged from the talks yesterday saying he was certain there would be more such contacts.