Dissolution of the Israeli parliament due to lack of agreement on the budget

ISRAEL. Born in the spring of 2020 from the need to unite to better fight against the coronavirus, and above all to resolve a political impasse, the coalition in power for the past eight months in Israel shattered on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at midnight (local time - 23h in Paris) with the dissolution of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. At the heart of the disagreement is the vote on the single budget for 2020 and 2021. A compromise proposal to adopt the budget in two stages (December then January) was rejected, in the night of Monday 21 to Tuesday 22 December 2020, by the deputies with forty-nine votes against and forty-seven in favor.

The Israelis will therefore be forced to return to the polls for the fourth time in two years. The next legislative elections should be held in March 2021.

The irremovable Benyamin Netanyahu (Likud - right) had come first in the previous elections in March 2020. But President Reuven Rivlin had entrusted his opponent (Kakhol Lavan - Bleu Blanc - center) with the task of forming a government. What he did not succeed. Neither did the outgoing prime minister.

An agreement between the two men had unblocked an inextricable situation and resolved a power vacuum in the midst of a coronavirus epidemic. According to this agreement, the post of prime minister was becoming a turning point. The incumbent had begun his term and was due to step down in 18 months in favor of his opponent. But the agreement included a prerequisite: agreeing on a budget covering the years 2020 and 2021.

The situation is no longer the same. By allying himself with Benyamin Netanyahu, indicted in three trials for which he is due to appear in early 2021, Benny Gantz lost the support of half of his supporters. As for his future competitor, he now faces the defection of his former minister Gideon Saar, who has left Likud to form a new party (Tikva Hadasha - New Hope).