Knesset votes to dissolve; new elections called for March 17 (Likud primary January 6th)

Times of Israel ^ | December 3, 2014, 10:54 am

[Dave346]

Eighty-four MKs support measure, which also passes first reading; Livni lashes ‘hysterical’ Netanyahu; Arab party leaders say they’ll unite

Knesset members voted overwhelmingly in favor of dissolving the current Knesset in a preliminary vote on Wednesday. Eighty-four MKs supported the measure, none opposed it, and one Knesset member abstained.

A first reading of the bill later Wednesday was also approved, with all 22 Knesset members present voting in favor.

The move will be finalized on Monday with second and third readings.

Knesset faction leaders agreed on March 17, 2015, as the date for new elections, in a meeting with Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein on Wednesday morning. “We mustn’t abuse the public. We cannot take our time,” Edelstein said during the meeting. The date must be approved by the factions before it becomes official.

During the meeting with Edelstein, Likud and Jewish Home faction leaders requested a March 10 election date, Labor wanted March 17, and the ultra-Orthodox parties asked for March 24, while the Arab parties sought to delay the vote until May, the Ynet news site reported.

MK Ahmad Tibi of the Ra’am Ta’al party indicated that the Arab parties would merge in response to the raising of the Knesset electoral threshold to 3.25%.

Speaking after the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud Knesset members that the party needed to secure “a large faction in the next elections.”

“This is my main lesson from the outgoing government,” he said.

Netanyahu on Tuesday launched a fierce assault on his coalition partners ministers Yair Lapid and Livni, accused them of attempting a “putsch” to oust him, fired them both, and announced that he would dissolve his government ahead of early elections.

Members of the Yesh Atid party tendered their resignations from the cabinet shortly thereafter.

[Dave346]

Netanyahu faces Danny Danon in the Likud primary in less than 5 weeks.

Netanyahu's toughest challenge will likely come in the primary rather than the general election as he seeks a 4th term.

[BillyBoy]

I don’t suppose there’s any chance that Danny Danon is to the right of Netenyahu on social issues? I really have question a “conservative” government that happily supports abortion on demand and gay “rights”. Israel’s liberal abortion policies kill more Jewish babies than Hamas could ever dream of.