(Jerusalem) Israeli elected officials voted early Tuesday in first reading on a bill to dissolve parliament, a key step towards calling new snap elections, the fifth in less than four years in Israel.
Posted at 7:48 a.m.
The deputies had approved last Wednesday in preliminary reading the dissolution of the Parliament and the holding of a new poll, the Prime Minister Naftali Bennett having announced the end of the motley coalition in power since June 2021.
After this preliminary vote, a parliamentary committee considered the bill paving the way for early elections on October 25 or 1er november.
Tuesday, shortly after midnight, this committee “unanimously” adopted this bill, which was voted on at first reading by the plenary assembly of the Knesset (parliament), with the support of 53 elected officials, without opposition or abstention.
MEPs still have to vote, at second and third reading, for Parliament to be effectively dissolved.
The parliamentary committee, which brings together deputies from the opposition and the coalition still in power, reported an agreement to complete these three votes by Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. (4:59 p.m. EDT).
On Tuesday, parliamentarians must adopt various laws, hence the final vote expected on Wednesday evening to dissolve the Knesset and call a new ballot.
Disappointment
Speaking at a symposium on cybersecurity in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday that he regretted the holding of early elections while welcoming the progress made in a year.
“I am not happy that there are elections, it is really not good for Israel […] but I think that in one year we have accomplished the work of ten years and I am delighted with that,” he said, welcoming the economic recovery and the adoption of a first budget of State after three years of political crisis.
Under a power-sharing agreement between Mr. Bennett and the current head of diplomacy Yair Lapid, the latter will be prime minister after the dissolution of parliament and until the next government is formed.
MM. Bennett and Lapid had brought together in June 2021 a coalition unique in the history of Israel including parties of the right, the center, the left and, for the first time, an Arab formation, to put an end to twelve years without stopping reign of Binyamin Netanyahu as head of government.
But the coalition has suffered several setbacks in recent weeks and, to further weaken it, the opposition inflicted a snub on it on June 6 by gathering a majority of votes against a bill aimed at extending the application of Israeli law to the 475,000 Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank.
This law had to be renewed by June 30 or else settlers in the West Bank – Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 – risked losing their legal protection under Israeli law.
However, in the event of the dissolution of Parliament, this law is automatically extended.