Israel’s Parliament approves its dissolution and calls for new elections

The Israeli Parliament approved its dissolution on Thursday and called new elections for November, ending a period of just over a year of an Executive made up of parties from all over the political spectrum.

The fall of the current government, until now led by Naftali Benetimplies that the current foreign minister, Yair Lapid, will become acting prime minister until the formation of the next government coalition.

UN: “Shots that killed Al Jazeera journalist came from Israeli forces”

The decision to dissolve Parliament was approved by 92 of the 120 deputies that comprise it and due to the deep crisis between the factions of the coalition.

The differences between these parties severely limited the functioning of the Governmentwhich in recent months has gone through multiple crises and resignations of its members, even losing the narrow majority it had.

Thus, Israel will be doomed to a fifth election in less than four years, extending a deep political crisis that began in late 2018.

With its dissolution today, the Knesset (Parliament) concluded a convulsive week in which several attempts to carry out this vote were frustrated by bureaucratic obstacles and disagreements between the different parties.

One of these disagreements was about the date of the next elections, which will finally take place on November 1.

Facing these elections, the until today prime minister, Naftali Benetannounced yesterday that he will not appear and will leave the current Minister of the Interior, Ayelet Shaked, at the head of the far-right Yamina party.

Benet’s announcement came during a farewell speech from the position, in which he highlighted some achievements of his Executive, gave his support to Lapid and emphasized the importance of Israeli parties “putting aside ideological differences and dealing with the security, the economy and the future of the State of Israel.”

According to polls released in recent days, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who is facing trial for corruption – is emerging as the winner in number of votes, as happened in three of the last four elections.

His chances of forming a government would depend, however, on the alliances he can form and on the electoral result of his traditional ultra-Orthodox and extreme right-wing partners, who in the previous elections did not obtain the necessary seats to form a coalition of more than 60 deputies together with the Likud of Netanyahu.

Lapid, for his part, is second in the polls and is emerging as the leader of the anti-Netanyahuwhich however has faced profound difficulties in governing together during the last year.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.