Jerusalem: Israeli lawmakers on Thursday voted to dissolve Parliament and hold fresh elections after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition before a midnight deadline, becoming the first prime minister-designate in the country’s history who was unable to form a government.
In little more than six weeks since they were elected, Israeli lawmakers voted 74-45 in favour of dissolving the 21st Knesset (Israeli Parliament) and hold an unprecedented repeat general elections on September 17.
Netanyahu’s remarkable victory in the April 9 polls securing him a record fifth term proved temporary in the face of a logjam between potential coalition partners over a military conscription bill governing exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students.
Ahead of the vote – taken just after the Wednesday midnight deadline, Netanyahu told the Likud faction that he had not succeeded in reaching a compromise with nationalist Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman on the controversial haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription bill, and that he had also tried unsuccessfully to woo MKs from the opposition to join his government.
Lieberman, a former defence minister, had made it a condition of allying with ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties that they adopt a law aimed at having ultra-Orthodox Jews serve in the military like their secular counterparts.
The bill, which the Defense Ministry drafted under Liberman’s leadership, sets rising annual targets for haredi conscription in the Israeli Defence Forces. Ultra-Orthodox Jews studying in religious seminaries are currently exempt from mandatory military service, a practice many Israelis view as unfair.
Lieberman told reporters just before the vote that Israel was going to the polls because of the “complete surrender of the Likud (ruling party) to the haredim (ultra-orthodox)”. Without Yisrael Beitenu, Netanyahu could muster support of only 60 lawmakers in the 120 member house, falling short of a majority by just one.
Netanyahu launched a diatribe against Lieberman whom he blamed for “dragging the country to unnecessary elections”. “Liberman is now part of the left. He brings down right-wing governments. Don’t believe him again. I will tell you about it tomorrow. Maybe I will tell you some things you don’t know,” the prime minister told reporters immediately after the Knesset voted to dissolve itself.
“We’ll run a sharp, clear election campaign which will bring us victory. We’ll win, we’ll win and the public will win,” he said. “The public in Israel made a clear decision. It decided that I will be Prime Minister, that the Likud will lead the government, a right-wing government,” Netanyahu said.