The Knesset appointed a new speaker on Monday in what is the first legislative agenda of the incoming government led by Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu.
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The transition from Interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid's government to Netanyahu's administration has officially begub as Likud's Yariv Levin has replaced current speaker Yesh Atid's Mickey Levy.
Levin, one of the closest associates of the incoming prime minister, has been appointed as an interim speaker as he is expected to take on a ministerial role once the government is sworn in.
Such a move will allow the incoming government for a quicker vote on three crucial bills that would grant leaders of the bloc their coalition demands: to expand powers of Otzma Yehudit leader and incoming National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir; to enable Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich o place a minister in charge of the Civil Administration; and allow Sephardi ultra-Orthodox Shas faction leader Aryeh Deri to be appointed minister despite a previous tax fraud conviction.
All three politicians are partners of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud, which despite being the main party has less than half of the portfolios in the coalition. It demonstrates that allied factions will have considerable power to put pressure on Likud, which is one of the reasons why coalition talks have already taken over a month, with Netanyahu having had to ask President Isaac Herzog for extension.
The complexity of the coalition, which on paper looked very homogenic and united behind Netanyahu, becomes evident as the deadline for formation nears. Many senior Likud members are waiting to be appointed to important positions with several key portfolios still vacant.
One of them is the position of defense minister, which Netanyahu is apparently saving for a Likud member instead of giving it Smotrich. The role of education minister also remains under question as Netanyahu's recent decision to give far-right Noam party chairman Avi Maoz some educational powers has already caused public outrage.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
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