Israel is now moving towards its fifth election in three and a half years. The country’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has announced that his coalition will be dissolved.
The reason, according to Prime Minister Bennett and Secretary of State Yair Lapid, is that “all efforts to stabilize the coalition” have been exhausted. Therefore, they have decided to present a bill next week that dissolves the parliament, reports The Jerusalem Post.
Naftali Bennett will then step down from the post of Prime Minister of Israel and the current Foreign Minister Lapid will take over as leader of a caretaker government.
Bennett has been fighting to keep the coalition of eight parties together since it took office a year ago. Defections have left the alliance without a majority in the country’s parliament for more than two months.
Former Prime Minister and current opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu says the expected dissolution of parliament is “big news” for millions of Israelis, and that he expects to form “a broad nationalist government led by Likud” after the next election.
Israel held four elections between 2019 and 2021, which were largely referendums on Netanyahu’s ability to govern while being prosecuted for corruption. A crime that Netanyahu denies.
The new election is expected to be held in October or November.
Facts
The Government of Israel
The current governing coalition was approved by a margin of one vote in the Israeli parliament.
The government consists of eight parties and, among other things, for the first time includes an Arab party in a governing coalition in Israel.
The coalition consists of the right-wing nationalist party Yamina, the secular center party Yesh Atid (There is a future), the right party Tikva hadasha (New Hope), the secular right party Yisrael Beitenu (Our Home Israel), the center party Kahol Lavan (Blue and White Alliance), the Left Party Meretz (Kraft), Labor Party and Islamist Raam.
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