This will be the fifth election for Israel in more than three years
After yesterday’s announcement of the start of the Knesset dissolving process and the reshuffle of two prime ministers — Incumbent Prime Minister Naftali Bennett with Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid — recent polls have shown that neither bloc has a clear advantage to form a majority of 61 votes again. Bennett-Lapid are now predicted to receive 55 votes and the opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu — 59.
The 61 votes won by the current coalition, formed a year ago to counter Netanyahu, were initially a too shaky majority. Over the past year, the Bennett-Lapid tandem has constantly had to balance between very diverse coalition members from eight parties, including the Arab party that entered the Knesset for the first time.
The coalition’s first wake-up call came about three months ago when right-wing Knesset member Idit Silman left the coalition.
Having lost their majority three weeks ago, the coalition was no longer able to prolong temporary laws extending criminal and civil law to the Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. These laws are prolonged every five years, and the current ones expire at the end of June, and if they are not renewed, Israelis in the West Bank will be actually outlawed.
To avoid possible chaos, Bennett called another snap election. The laws of Judea and Samaria, therefore, will continue to operate for this period.
This will be the fifth election for Israel in more than three years. The time of its holding has not yet been determined; the law on it will be submitted to the Knesset next week. Although the election date is preliminary expected on October 25 or November 1, it may also be difficult to determine the final date, as this period is preceded by a long series of holidays. This means that the work of the Central Election Commission will be virtually paralyzed for almost a whole month.
We will find out next week what date the deputies will approve, and now Israel is intensively preparing for the visit of Joe Biden, whose administration has already announced that the visit will take place anyway.
