Renegade Yamina MK attempting to delay Knesset dispersal

Coalition deserter Yamina MK Nir Orbach is trying to delay convening the Knesset House Committee in order to hold up the legislative process necessary to disperse the Knesset.

The plenum passed 11 separate bills to dissolve the Knesset earlier this afternoon, all of which then went to Orbach’s House Committee for their next step. The House Committee needs to meet to decide which of two committees will prepare the bills for their next reading, either itself or the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

The coalition is expected to prefer that the bill move to the Constitution Committee, headed by Labor MK Gilad Kariv. Kariv would be expected to run the bill through a rapid process.

On the contrary, Orbach says that he wants to create space to give the formation of an alternative right-wing government a chance. His best tool for gumming the legislative wheels is to hold off on convening the House Committee, in which the coalition holds a majority, and wrest control back to the Constitutional Committee.