The bill calling for the dissolution of the Knesset passed its first reading on Monday night in a vote of 53 in favor with no objections. The legislative proposal will face its second and third readings on Wednesday and it is not expected to be challenged. Once passed, parliament will disband, making way for a caretaker government headed by Prime Minister-designate Yair Lapid.
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The coalition and opposition have yet to come to an agreement on the exact date on which the next elections – Israel's fifth in three years – will be held. Israelis are expected to cast their ballots again on Oct. 25 or Nov. 1, with the latter emerging as the preferred date ahead of Wednesday's vote, during which it will be finalized.
Last week Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called for early elections, saying that the efforts to stabilize the increasingly erratic coalition – in power for only a year – have exhausted themselves.
The prospect of an election was welcomed by Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader who was toppled last year after 12 years in power when Bennett and Lapid mustered a rare coalition of hard-right, liberal and Arab politicians.
The current election campaign, however, may not be as easy for Netanyahu as he would like to believe, as longtime ally United Torah Judaism has made it clear that unless he secures a 61-MK majority to form a government following the elections, the Ashkenazi Haredi party would see itself as free of its traditional obligation to partner solely with the right-wing bloc.
Likud officials have also said that the upcoming elections would be Netanyahu's "last chance" to lead the party, hinting that if he again fails to form a government, he would have to step down as party chairman – a position he has held since 1993.
"Behind closed doors, even people who are Netanyahu's greatest supporters say that they will not follow him into a sixth election campaign and he will have to step down," one official said.
While a "revolt" in Likud seems highly unlikely at this time, many top officials in the party are growing impatient and while they are wary of challenging Netanyahu in the upcoming primaries, some have already stated that Netanyahu's grace period across five elections has come to an end.
If he again fails to form a coalition, top Likud officials plan to challenge Netanyahu to as so allow the party to form a government.
Meanwhile, the Arab parties are considered joining forces again ahead of the next elections.
Formed ahead of the 2013 elections, the Joint Arab List, originally comprised the Balad, Ta'al, Hadash and Ra'am parties. The latter split from the Joint Arab List ahead of the March 2021 elections and was able to make history by becoming the first Islamist party to join the coalition since Israel's inception.
While there is no love lost between the leaders of the various Arab factions there has been a growing call for a joint ticket on the street, mostly by mayors of Arab localities, who believe that it is the only way to prevent exceptionally low voter turnout among Arab Israeli voters.
The party was at peak power following the March 2020 elections, when it won 15 Knesset seats. Ra'am's departure and a host of scandals saw it plunge to only six seats in the current Knesset.
With some polls suggesting Ra'am could fail to cross the four-seat electoral threshold and JAL could drop to five seats, there are those who believe a full Arab slate would be the only way to prevent the Arab sector from suffering a major blow in the polls.
On a declarative level, officials from all four factions have expressed support for what has been dubbed the "Joint Arab List 2.0" but none are willing to relent on the demands they make from each other.
Ra'am would like to capitalize on it current momentum and join any coalition willing to accept it, while Balad, Ta'al, and Hadash have stated they would work to undermine any Israeli government they perceive as acting against the interests of Arab Israelis or the Palestinian people.
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