Bill to prevent ‘coup’ against Netanyahu passes preliminary Knesset reading

12 December 2018, 3:01 pm

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A bill that would limit the powers of the president in deciding who to task with forming a government passes its first Knesset vote 60-55.

The legislation will amend Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Law, to ensure that only the leader of each elected political party has the right to form a government and not any other figure on the parties’ lists.

The bill was proposed by coalition chair David Amsalem (Likud) due to claims that President Reuven Rivlin was looking at the possibility of asking Gideon Sa’ar, a potential challenger to Netanyahu in the next elections, to form a government.

The legislation is seen as an attempt to prevent a potential “coup” within the ruling Likud party against leader Netanyahu.