Members of the Israeli parliament approved a bill early Tuesday to dissolve the legislature in preparation for early elections, according to a statement issued by the Knesset.
اضافة اعلان
The statement noted that lawmakers voted by a majority of 106 to 0 out of 120 seats in favor of the first reading of the bill, which was put forward by parties within the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The bill will be referred back to the competent Knesset committee for further discussions before its final approval in the second and third readings to become an active law. Should this be finalized, Israelis will be called to the polls in 90 days.
According to the statement, the elections for the 26th parliament are expected to take place between September 8 and October 20.
The statement quoted Knesset Committee Chairman Ofir Katz as saying: "We completed four full years; this is extraordinary in Israeli politics, and we worked hard to achieve it." According to Katz, "This (25th) Knesset passed more than 520 laws and nine budgets." The elections were originally scheduled to be held by October 27.
Late last month, 110 out of 120 members of parliament backed the bill in its preliminary reading, with no lawmakers voting against it at the time.
The bill comes at a time when Netanyahu faces mounting pressure from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, amid signs of a potential collapse of his right-wing coalition. The Haredi parties accuse Netanyahu of failing to fulfill his promise to pass legislation exempting young men from their community, who attend Jewish religious schools (yeshivas), from mandatory military service.
Netanyahu has served as Israel's prime minister for more than 18 years since 1996 and is seeking a new term despite ongoing legal battles over corruption allegations. Many Israelis hold Netanyahu responsible for the security failure that allowed the unprecedented 2023 attack by Hamas to occur.
A poll by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation "Kan" showed that the Likud party leads over the "Together" list, which brings together Lapid and Bennett. However, neither camp currently appears capable of forming a stable government.
AFP
