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meIn Israel, new elections must take place again: after a deadline for a new budget, the parliament in Jerusalem was automatically dissolved on Tuesday at midnight (local time; 11 pm CET). The background to this is a conflict that has been going on for months between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partner Benny Gantz.
On Tuesday night, the Knesset had already rejected a proposal to postpone budget planning for 2020 to December 31 and planning for 2021 to January 5. A last-minute deal would have been possible no later than the Wednesday night deadline. However, due to the ongoing dispute in the ruling coalition, observers did not expect a solution.
The new election could take place on March 23. So it would be the fourth vote for Israelis in less than two years.
Since the coalition agreement was reached in April, the relationship between Netanyahu and Gantz has been characterized by suspicions and public accusations. Under the original agreements, Gantz should rise to the top of the government by the end of November next year. Observers suspected that Netanyahu deliberately wanted to force new elections before handing over power to Gantz.
However, according to opinion polls, Netanyahu should expect a significant number of Likud voters to lose out to new right-wing challenger Gideon Saar in the new elections. The head of government will also have to answer for corruption in the courts early next year. Netanyahu is also criticized for his crisis management in the corona pandemic.
The center-left electoral alliance Blau-Weiß von Gantz should not benefit from new elections. While Blue and White achieved the most votes in the penultimate elections in September 2019, the alliance is only sixth or seventh in the most recent polls.
