Opposition parties pushing for vote to dissolve government

Opposition parties Yesh Atid and Meretz are submitting a formal request to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to allow a vote this week on a bill to dissolve parliament and set a date for elections.

The Zionist Union party tried to present a dissolution bill earlier today, but was prevented by protocol that prevents the first vote of new legislation in the final week that the Knesset sits. On Thursday, the Knesset will go into recess, after the four-month winter session.

In a letter to Edelstein, Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg and Yesh Atid MK Ofer Shelach argue that a dissolution bill should be given the same privileges as the “Ultra-Orthodox Conscription Bill,” which the coalition hopes to vote on this week, in an attempt to end an ongoing coalition crisis threatening elections.

“Voting on the conscription bill will be an exception to the general rules and the same exception should be made for the opposition,” they write.

— Raoul Wootliff