Knesset Passes Initial Dispersal Vote Setting Stage for Elections

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s coalition managed to overcome the first big hurdle standing in its way of putting an end to the current government. It managed to past first of the four votes that are required for dispersing the Knesset and forcing the country to have snap elections.

Multiple Bills Passed

The coalition and the opposition had not been able to come to an agreement even on dissolution, as they both submitted different legislations for dispersing the Knesset. There were two bills from the coalition, while the opposition put in nine.

The primary bill put forward by the coalition was able to garner 106 votes in favor, while there was a single vote against it. As for the bills put forward by the opposition, all of them managed to get 89 votes. The next step is for the Knesset House Committee, which will select the committee that will prepare the legislation for their first reading.

Four separate votes are required for dissolution of the Knesset and there have to be two committee reviews. This process will not finish on Wednesday, but is more likely to end on Monday. There had been a relatively mild debate over the bills that went on for an hour. There had also been attempts for applauding the passage of the 11 readings for Knesset’s dispersal, but Michael Levy, the Knesset Speaker, had dismissed them and said it was over.

Lapid to Become Interim Premier

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had taken the nation by surprise on Monday when they announced that they were voluntarily disbanding the Knesset and starting the process of conducting the fifth round of elections in Israel in the last three years.

The two leaders said that they had arrived at the decision after facing months of political instability, once they had lost their majority in the Knesset back in April. They stated that they were ‘exhausted’ and could no longer make an effort to restore order in the fragile coalition.

Once the dissolution occurs, the position of interim prime minister will be taken up by Yair Lapid, until elections are conducted and a new government is formed.

Good of the State

Boaz Toporovsky, the coalition whip who belongs to Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, spoke about the dispersal bill of the government. He said that Bennett had made the right decision and that it had been for the ‘good of the state’. He added that they were putting the benefit of the state first. He went on to say that even in this last stage of dismantlement, they were not seeing any cooperation from the Knesset.

Toporovsky said that the opposition was delaying the election process because they just enjoy messing up the government system. Mossi Raz, a member of the Meretz party, said that it had been an uphill battle for the coalition. He said that they would form another government after the elections and they would not give into the threats received from the right.