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Lapid opposition hampers Netanyahu plan to delay presidential vote
Finance Minister and leader of Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid said yesterday that he would not support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reported initiative to postpone this summer’s vote on a successor to President Shimon Peres and investigate eventually disbanding the presidency altogether.
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein is expected to announce a date for the vote next week. The President is elected by the Knesset’s 120 members, with the support of at least 10 MKs required by each candidate. Widespread reports say that Netanyahu’s suggestion stems at least in part from deep antipathy towards one of the front-runners to succeed Peres, fellow Likud MK and former Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, who nonetheless enjoys popular support within the Likud’s Knesset faction. Likud Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Likud MK Haim Katz voiced their opposition to Netanyahu’s plan earlier this week.
However, Lapid’s announcement last night was a strong indication that Netanyahu’s suggestion would face strong opposition from within the coalition. Lapid told Army Radio, “I will oppose any attempt to delay the election for President … It is a constitutional change that cannot be introduced at the last moment and implemented in a rush.” Haaretz says that although Hatnuah Party leader Tzipi Livni has not stated her position on the issue, her entire faction opposes delaying the vote and the Jewish Home party is split on the matter. Another coalition party, Yisrael Beitenu is supportive of scrapping the largely ceremonial presidency altogether.
However, such a suggestion would be strongly opposed in the wider Knesset. Labour Party head Isaac Herzog told a faction meeting, “We rejected it outright” while Shas chairman Aryeh Deri told his party’s MKs that, “We will not support any initiative delaying the elections.”
Peres himself commented on Monday, “In most democratic countries, there is a President and Prime Minister.” In addition to Rivlin, senior Labour MK and former-minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer has also declared his candidacy to succeed Peres and an imminent decision on whether to run is expected from Likud Minister Silvan Shalom.