Israeli parliament votes to dissolve, snap election in November

JERUSALEM

Israeli lawmakers voted Thursday to pass the final readings of a bill to dissolve the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), paving the way for snap elections slated for Nov. 1.

Ninety-two lawmakers voted in favor of the bill to disperse the Knesset, with no one opposing.

The Knesset had voted last week in the preliminary reading to dissolve itself, and earlier this week, it voted in favor of the bill in the first reading.

The second and third readings were postponed twice this week due to disagreements between the government and opposition lawmakers.

Addressing the Knesset, opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the government of Naftali Bennett for hikes in prices and the high cost of living.

Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud Party, vowed to form a government that "returns the country to its rightful path."

According to a recent agreement with Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will become the caretaker premier until a new Cabinet is formed after the upcoming elections. Bennett, who has announced that he will not stand in the upcoming polls, will become an alternate prime minister for Lapid.

The vote to disband the Knesset came a few hours before the expiry of the West Bank Emergency Regulations Law, which applies civil law to settlers in the occupied territory.

The law was enacted in 1967 and is extended every five years, but the Israeli government failed to extend it through the Knesset, which prompted it to take the decision to dissolve it before the law expires at midnight.

With the dissolution of the Knesset, the law is automatically extended, until the election of a new parliament and the formation of a new government.

Public opinion polls in Israel indicate the superiority of the right-wing Likud party headed by Netanyahu, but it is still unable to reach the threshold of 61 votes out of 120 required to form a government.

The upcoming elections are the fifth in less than four years, during which Netanyahu failed four times to form a government despite his party's victory in the elections.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat in Ankara