For the first time, repeated parliamentary elections are scheduled in Israel: what will happen next

The Israeli Knesset (parliament) decided to dissolve itself, which will lead to new elections. For the first time in the country's history, the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, failed to form a coalition within the allotted time.

Photo: Facebook/Benjamin Netanyahu — בנימין נתניהו

During the voting 74 parliamentarians voted for the dissolution of the Knesset, another 45 voted against, writes Air force.

New elections are scheduled for September 17. Likud announced that it would take part in them.

Parliamentary elections in Israel took place on April 9. The deadline for the formation of the ruling coalition expired on Thursday night.

The main obstacle to the coalition seemed to be Avigdor Lieberman, a native of Moldova and leader of the “Israel Our Home” party, which is voted mainly by immigrants from the countries of the former USSR.

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Netanyahu blamed Lieberman for not specifically wanting to join the coalition with him in order to gain more seats in the Knesset in the September early elections.

“He is dragging the country towards another election for the second time, simply because he wants more mandates,” Netanyahu said.

In the April elections, Likud won 35 of the 120 parliamentary seats.

In search of a coalition

The problem for Netanyahu was that in order to create the ruling coalition, he needed the support of the far-right party, several parties at once representing the interests of religious Jews, as well as the Lieberman party.

Photo: Facebook /Avigdor Lieberman

Lieberman and his Israel Our Home party have more than once been part of the ruling coalition led by Netanyahu. In the government, Lieberman holds the post of Minister of Defense.

But now he and his party are positioning themselves as defenders of more secular sections of society and are demanding that ultra-Orthodox Jews serve in the military on a general basis. Religious parties strongly oppose this, since they believe that the main task for men is to study the Holy Scriptures and other religious texts, and women have no place in the army at all.

Lieberman insists that the Knesset has already adopted in the first reading the law on the recruitment of religious Jews into the army, and the time has come to bring it to life, which Netanyahu refuses.

The opposition claims that in this case it should be given a chance to form its own coalition, but the Netanyahu party prefers new elections.

What will happen next?

According to the BBC correspondent in the Middle East, Tom Bateman, the incident underlines that the prime minister’s political resource has weakened and his rivals seem to have noticed. Many of them are likely to try to take advantage of new opportunities.

Netanyahu will remain acting prime minister until a vote in September. In July, Netanyahu will beat the record for the duration of his tenure as prime minister.

The course of the election campaign will most likely be similar to the scenario of the April elections, during which Netanyahu faced a serious rival for the first time in several years: former Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz.

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In the entire history of Israel, none of the parties has ever managed to enlist the majority of seats in the Knesset, and coalitions always rule the country.

This means that the prime minister is not always the person whose party is gaining the most votes. They can be a politician who brings together the parties that control 61 from the 120 seats of the Knesset.

In addition, Netanyahu may face difficulties due to problems with the law.

Israeli police and prosecutors are investigating Netanyahu’s work on a number of allegations of possible corruption.

He himself claims that the current prime minister cannot be held accountable, and threatens to pass a law that severely restricts the rights of the supreme court in such cases.

Photo: Facebook/Benjamin Netanyahu

His wife Sarah, local media reported, pleaded guilty to the unauthorized use of public finances.

The charges were brought against her in June 2018.

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