Despite the last minute deals, nothing has done. Wednesday, December 11 at midnight, the Knesset (Parliament) was finally dissolved, after the expiration of the time allowed to the Israeli deputies to form a coalition government.
Israel is therefore preparing for new elections, the third in less than a year. Unpublished, the political impasse initiated after the first poll in April is prolonged. And the situation of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is becoming more and more perilous: since the announcement of his indictment, the battle for his succession to the head of the Likud (right) is preparing.
"In extraordinary circumstances, and after two close campaigns in which no government has been formed, it is proposed to dissolve the Knesset and hold new elections for the 23e Knesset, March 2, 2020 ", has the text of law that was adopted unanimously in the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
Since 21 November, Israeli deputies had 21 days to nominate a candidate who, supported by 61 of them (the majority, the Parliament with 120 seats), would have been able to form a coalition government. At the end of this period and without convincing results, the dissolution of the Knesset was inevitable, leading to new legislative elections.
This was the latest attempt to form a government after the 9th September ballot, which had carried the Likud and the blue-white centrist movement elbow-to-neck. Once again, their respective leaders, Benyamin Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz failed to reach an agreement to form the national unity government that had been recommended by President Reuven Rivlin to get the country out of the impasse.
The judicial situation of Netanyahu
From the beginning of the week, when it became clear that the talks would not succeed, the two candidates mutually rejected each other for this imminent failure. On several occasions, Benny Gantz denounced the Prime Minister's maneuvers to ensure his parliamentary immunity, following the announcement by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on 21 November of his indictment for corruption, fraud and breach of trust in three cases. Recently, the Prime Minister's judicial situation has become Mr. Gantz's main argument for the current political stalemate, as well as his main negotiating lever.
