Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik announced Sunday that the Knesset will dissolve on July 17 and that elections will be held on their originally scheduled date of October 27, the latest date permitted by law.
“The current Knesset will complete its full term and will not be dissolved [early]. The election date remains as established by law — October 27,” Afik said during a Knesset House Committee discussion.
This would mark the first elections to be held on schedule in Israel since 1988, and make Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current government the first Israeli government to complete its full term since 1973.
The announcement came as the coalition has embarked on a legislative blitz aimed at passing as many of its contentious bills as possible before the parliament dissolves, when legislation generally grinds to a halt unless agreed to by both the coalition and the opposition.
The current government, Israel’s 37th, was formed on December 29, 2022, after the collapse of the Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid government.
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Made up of Netanyahu’s Likud party together with several ultra-Orthodox parties and far-right parties, the current government is generally considered the most hardline ever to govern the country.
A photo of the 37th government of Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, December 29, 2022. (Avi Ohayon/ Government Press Office)
It has been at risk of collapse on several occasions, primarily over its efforts to codify long-standing exemptions from mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox men, which are controversial even within the coalition.
Additionally, far-right parties threatened on several occasions to collapse the government amid the war in Gaza, in opposition to hostage-ceasefire deals with Hamas.
According to polls, if elections were held today, Netanyahu and his allies would fall well short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, with the Zionist opposition bloc – an anti-Netanyahu alliance that excludes the Arab-majority and ultra-Orthodox parties – teetering on the edge of a majority itself.
Netanyahu’s main challengers for the premiership are former general and Yashar party chair Gadi Eisenkot and ex-prime minister Bennett, who heads the Together party.
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