MIDEAST-ISRAEL-POLITICS/MOOD Israel coalition crisis could trigger early election

Record ID: 398828

  • Title: MIDEAST-ISRAEL-POLITICS/MOOD Israel coalition crisis could trigger early election
  • Date: 2nd December 2014
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (DECEMBER 2, 2014) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** FINANCE MINISTER AND YESH ATID PARTY LEADER YAIR LAPID, APPROACHING PODIUM AT ENERGY CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) YESH ATID PARTY LEADER, YAIR LAPID SAYING: "Prime Minister Netanyahu decided last night to take Israel to unnecessary elections. We had an alternative, a good alternative
  • Embargoed: 17th December 2014 12:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAF0X8X2E0D1MQI94N3MY7YNEO3
  • Story Text: PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL
    Israel appeared to be headed on Tuesday (December 2) toward an early election after right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his major centrist coalition partner failed to patch up differences.
    Netanyahu's government, which is dominated by the right and came to power early last year, has been unravelling over a range of issues including the 2015 budget.
    He said on Monday (December 1) he would go to the polls unless rebellious ministers stopped attacking government policies.
    The most powerful coalition rebel, centrist Finance Minister Yair Lapid, mentioned elections on Tuesday after failing to win a budget deal in a late-night session with Netanyahu.
    "Prime Minister Netanyahu decided to take Israel to unnecessary elections last night," said Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, accusing Netanyahu of blocking his proposed housing reforms.
    A new mandate could give Netanyahu more leeway domestically to pursue his settlement policies on occupied land Palestinians seek for a state and a controversial bill to declare Israel the Jewish nation-state, legislation critics see as discriminating against the country's 20-percent Arab minority.
    "He (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) apparently thinks that a new election will produce a political map that would be more favourable to him with a bit more power to the centre right bloc, shifting from today's centre, which is within his coalition and has been consistently, the way he sees it, a thorn in his side," political analyst Amotz Asael said. "If he now manoeuvres the Israeli political system into its own election then he wins more time and more time expires from this geo-political unfavourable setting in which he is compelled to function."
    Political commentators said an election could come as early as March.
    Zeev Elkin of Netanyahu's Likud party said it would likely back an opposition motion to dissolve parliament, expected on Wednesday (December 3).
    That would throw lawmakers into several days of discussions on an election date. Parliament would then dissolve itself next week, with the government staying on until a new one is sworn in.
    The political turmoil comes at a difficult time for Israel economically, with next year's budget not agreed and growth slower in the wake of the July-August Gaza war.
    Citing political concerns, Isaac Shwekee, a Jerusalem resident said premature election "was not good to Israel". Under Israeli law general elections in Israel are held every four years.
    Another resident, Erez Goldman, dismissed the election as a "waste of time", arguing it will not bring about a change.
    "These new elections are just waste of time, waste of money. Nothing is going to change because the political system in Israel is going to be the same thing, nothing is going to change, same coalition, same people and as long as the system is not going to be changed here is Israel I don't see what are we wasting our money on," he said.
    Political adversaries accused Netanyahu of engineering the crisis - the next election is not due until 2017 - so he can oust centrists and win votes back for Likud from far-right coalition partners.
    A backroom deal with two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties could let him reshape his coalition without an election, or form a government without centrist parties if one is held.
    An opinion poll in the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper on Sunday showed that while Netanyahu's approval rating slipped to 35 percent, compared with 42 percent at the end of the Gaza war, he was still Israelis' preferred candidate.
    His dispute with Lapid is over the finance minister's proposal to eliminate value added tax on the purchase of first homes.
    Some economists say the plan would raise housing prices by increasing demand. Netanyahu has balked at Lapid's blueprint, which opponents say would cost the government 3 billion shekels ($757 million) to finance.
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