Joint List backs bid to replace Knesset speaker, boosting effort to quickly form gov’t

The Joint List has signed the call by the “change bloc” for a vote to replace Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin of Likud, giving the bid a parliamentary majority despite the objection of Yamina MK Nir Orbach to the move.

The predominantly Arab party’s six members add their signatures to the call, in which Levin is set to be replaced with Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy. The move would enable the new government to be sworn in as early as next Monday.

If Levin remains in the speaker’s chair, he can legally delay a vote on the new government for a week or more, giving Likud more time to try to peel away rebels from the right-wing factions of the unity coalition.

Likud swiftly responds, attacking Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid for “relying on the Joint List” and calling on more Yamina and New Hope MKs to oppose the collaboration.