Netanyahu seeks reforms to stabilize Israeli governance

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will announce Monday night his intention to dramatically change Israel’s system of government if he wins reelection on March 17.

Netanyahu is slated to speak at the Likud party’s election event in Tel Aviv, where the party will present its official Knesset slate following last week’s primary, and will formally launch its election campaign.

At the event, the prime minister will lay out his proposal to alter Israel’s system of government in a way that will ensure Israeli governments are much more likely to survive the four-year terms to which they are elected, sources told The Times of Israel ahead of the event.

The government that will be formed after the March elections will be Israel’s 34th in 67 years, making the average lifespan of an Israeli government slightly less than half its allotted term.

By law, governments fall when they lose the support of the Knesset and cannot muster a majority of MKs to vote down the opposition’s weekly “no-confidence” motions.

Once they are felled, a new Knesset coalition may be cobbled together to form a new government without elections — or the country goes to elections.

Governments must also fall if they fail to pass a state budget.

There are no details as yet on what specific reforms Netanyahu plans to bring to the Knesset, but sources say they will ensure it will become far more difficult to topple a government mid-term, bringing greater stability to the political system and government policy.

The Knesset has seen a series of attempts at reforming Israel’s electoral system, including the institution for a few years of a separate ballot to elect the prime minister.

In the outgoing Knesset, a “Governance Law” passed which, among other measures, raised the electoral threshold from 2 percent of the popular vote to 3.25%, likely reducing the number of small parties that will be elected to the next Knesset.