Joint List MK Tibi: We will push to replace Knesset speaker even before next government formed

MK Ahmad Tibi, chairman of the Ta’al party, says that his Arab Joint List faction with the communist Hadash party will push to replace the Knesset speaker after elections, even if a new coalition is unable to reach a majority without Arab parties.

“There are all kinds of things, from a range of steps, immediately after the elections, that could change reality,” Tibi says in an interview with Channel 12.

“You know what the election of a Knesset speaker immediately after the elections means?” Tibi continues. “The story is over. This is complete control of the Knesset.”

Likud’s Amir Ohana is the current Knesset speaker. Though leading opposition parties have said they won’t sit with Arab parties in a future coalition, the Joint List wants to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from forming the next coalition.

Changing the speaker before a government is formed would give opposition parties control over the parliamentary agenda.

Asked whether he would recommend an (opposition) candidate as prime minister to the president after the elections, Tibi said, “We’ll do more than that.”