JERUSALEM, June 20 (Reuters) – Israeli lawmakers will vote to dissolve parliament, paving the way for the country’s fifth election in three years after weeks of pressure on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s fragile governing coalition.
Bennett will retire to be replaced by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, his partner in the unlikely coalition of opponents who ended 12 months ago the record 12-year rule of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lapid, a former journalist who heads the largest party in the coalition, will act as interim prime minister until new elections are held.
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
A parliamentary vote will be held next week, after which Lapid will take over as prime minister, an official said.
“I think the government has done a very good job over the last year. It’s a shame the country has to be dragged into the election,” said Defense Minister Benny Gantz, head of a coalition centrist party. .
“But we will continue to function as a temporary government for as long as possible,” he said.
The move comes just weeks before a planned visit by U.S. President Joe Biden, which the government relied on to help strengthen regional security ties against Israel’s enemy, Iran.
The future of the eight-party coalition, which includes far-right, liberal and Arab parties, had seemed increasingly threatened as a handful of members left, leaving it without a clear majority in parliament.
As pressure on the government has increased in recent days, Bennett, a former special forces commando and technology millionaire who entered national politics in 2013, said his government had boosted economic growth, reduced l unemployment and eliminated the deficit for the first time in 14 years.
But he could not keep the coalition together and decided to step aside before Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party could present its own motion to dissolve parliament.
Netanyahu, who has promised a comeback despite facing a corruption trial, had mocked Bennett, a former close aide, saying last week that his government had held “one of the longest funerals in history.” .
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Report by Ari Rabinovich; Edited by Alex Richardson and Philippa Fletcher
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.