Joint List MK to submit bill to begin process of dissolving Knesset next Wednesday
But Sami Abou Shahadeh’s colleague Ahmad Tibi is reportedly in talks with Lapid to throw coalition a lifeline and ostensibly prevent another election
By TOI staff
20 May 2022
Joint List MK Sami Abou Shahadeh announced on Friday that he would submit legislation to begin the process of dissolving the Knesset next week, following the resignation of a Meretz lawmaker from the coalition, forcing the government to circle the wagons if it wants to prevent a fifth election in less than three years. Speculation spiked that the bill to dissolve parliament would be submitted next Wednesday almost immediately after Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi announced she was quitting on Thursday morning, though most suspected the opposition-leading Likud party would be the one to move it forward. But as Benjamin Netanyahu’s party mulled on whether and when to make the announcement, it was one-upped by Abou Shahadeh, who heads the nationalist Balad faction within the six-seat, majority-Arab Joint List.
“I will submit the Knesset Dispersal Law [for a vote] next Wednesday. This bad government must fall,” he announced. While Meretz MK Rinawie Zoabi’s resignation leaves the coalition with just 59 MKs, and a preliminary reading of a bill to disperse the Knesset for new elections needs only a simple majority, it would need an absolute majority of at least 61 MKs to clear its subsequent three readings, and it is not clear that the opposition could muster those 61 votes. Rinawie Zoabi said Thursday evening that she still hasn’t decided how she would vote if the bill is presented next week.
Moreover, while Abou Shahadeh made clear he would vote with the rest of the Likud-led opposition — which is made up of right-wing and religious parties — to dissolve parliament, there has been speculation that other members of the Joint List might be willing to throw the coalition a lifeline.
more............. https://www.timesofisrael.com/joint...bmit-bill-to-dissolve-knesset-next-wednesday/
But Sami Abou Shahadeh’s colleague Ahmad Tibi is reportedly in talks with Lapid to throw coalition a lifeline and ostensibly prevent another election
By TOI staff
20 May 2022
Joint List MK Sami Abou Shahadeh announced on Friday that he would submit legislation to begin the process of dissolving the Knesset next week, following the resignation of a Meretz lawmaker from the coalition, forcing the government to circle the wagons if it wants to prevent a fifth election in less than three years. Speculation spiked that the bill to dissolve parliament would be submitted next Wednesday almost immediately after Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi announced she was quitting on Thursday morning, though most suspected the opposition-leading Likud party would be the one to move it forward. But as Benjamin Netanyahu’s party mulled on whether and when to make the announcement, it was one-upped by Abou Shahadeh, who heads the nationalist Balad faction within the six-seat, majority-Arab Joint List.
“I will submit the Knesset Dispersal Law [for a vote] next Wednesday. This bad government must fall,” he announced. While Meretz MK Rinawie Zoabi’s resignation leaves the coalition with just 59 MKs, and a preliminary reading of a bill to disperse the Knesset for new elections needs only a simple majority, it would need an absolute majority of at least 61 MKs to clear its subsequent three readings, and it is not clear that the opposition could muster those 61 votes. Rinawie Zoabi said Thursday evening that she still hasn’t decided how she would vote if the bill is presented next week.
Moreover, while Abou Shahadeh made clear he would vote with the rest of the Likud-led opposition — which is made up of right-wing and religious parties — to dissolve parliament, there has been speculation that other members of the Joint List might be willing to throw the coalition a lifeline.
more............. https://www.timesofisrael.com/joint...bmit-bill-to-dissolve-knesset-next-wednesday/
