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Knesset to elect Israel’s tenth president today with race still close
Members of Knesset will today participate in a secret ballot to elect a successor to President Shimon Peres following a dramatic campaign which is still too tight to call.
119 of the 120 Knesset members will cast their votes at 11am. United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush is abroad. The winning candidate will need a Knesset majority to become Israel’s tenth President. Likud MK and former Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin is the front-runner, as he is thought to have the backing of most Likud and Yisrael Beitenu MKs plus an assortment of other legislators including Labour’s Shelly Yachimovich. However, Rivlin appears unlikely to win outright and is likely to contest a second round of voting against his nearest rival, 30 minutes after the first votes have been counted.
However, opinions are divided on who Rivlin’s closest contender might be after the first round of voting. Nobel Prize laureate Dan Shechtman is considered to have little chance of progressing while support for Hatnuah’s candidate, former Finance Minister Meir Sheetrit is not thought to extend far beyond his own party. Consequently, former Supreme Court Judge Dalia Dorner and former Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, who is not a current MK but formerly represented both Labour and Kadima are considered favourites to challenge Rivlin in a second ballot.
Both Dorner and Itzik could benefit from the dramatic withdrawal of Labour MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer’s candidacy over the weekend, after he faced questioning by police over alleged financial impropriety. It was the latest episode in a presidential campaign mired by scandal. Both Rivlin and Sheetrit found themselves accused of improper behaviour during the past few weeks, while Likud Minister Silvan Shalom decided not to run after he was investigated for sexual misdemeanours.
Meretz has pledged support for Dorner and several Labour MKs are also likely to back her. However, Itzik has broader appeal and is thought to have support in the centre-left and well beyond, including some elements of Yisrael Beitenu and even ultra-Orthodox party Shas.