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Israel’s parliament votes for new elections

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After Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s eight-party government lost its majority, the Israeli parliament voted to dissolve it. The deputies voted unanimously for a corresponding law on Tuesday. The fifth general election is approaching in less than four years. These should follow the draft law at the end of October or beginning of November.

The law on the dissolution of parliament is to come into force on Wednesday at midnight. Before that, the second and third readings are to take place in Parliament. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will then hand over the post of head of government to former Foreign Minister Jair Lapid.

Bennett and Lapid announced last week that they had exhausted all options to stabilize their eight-party coalition. Among other things, a vote on the extension of a law that gave settlers in the occupied West Bank the same rights as citizens in the rest of Israeli territory had caused controversy.

In June 2021, right-wing hardliner Bennett and Lapid from the liberal Yesh Atid party agreed on the historic coalition government, whose members come from all political camps and to which an Arab party belonged for the first time in Israel’s history. Above all, the partners shared the desire to replace long-term Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had previously been in power for twelve years.

In recent days, Netanyahu and his allies have been trying to forge a new coalition under Netanyahu’s leadership without a new election. Parliament’s approval of self-dissolution is a sign that these attempts have failed.