Knesset speaker urges early elections

Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin said the Knesset should be dissolved as quickly as possible, at the beginning of the winter session, Maariv reported Thursday night. Elections should be held as soon as possible, he said.

Rivlin said the global economic situation demands of Israel an approved, responsible budget for 2013. The lack of a budget would be detrimental to weaker sectors of society, he said. Budgetary legislation is likely to be stalled amid coalition frictions, hence the spread of election fever in the past two weeks.

The law necessary to dissolve the Knesset is already prepared, the report said. As the Knesset was nearing the moment of dissolution in May, before Prime Minister Netanyahu and Kadima head MK Shaul Mofaz reached a short-lived agreement for a national unity government, the parliamentary infrastructure was put in place and it is now possible to act quickly and move to elections.