Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced on Monday that Israel will hold an early election, set for April.
Elections were due to take place in November 2019; this announcement means that Knesset members will vote to dissolve parliament early.
In a joint statement, the heads of the five coalition parties said “out of national and budgetary responsibility, the leaders of the coalition parties decided, unanimously and unanimously, to dissolve the Knesset and go to new elections at the beginning of April after a four-year term”.
The statement came after MK Yair Lapid publicised that his opposition Yesh Atid party will vote against the coalition’s bill on the military draft of ultra-Orthodox men, claiming that the government was organising an “under the table” deal that would transform the introduction of new laws.
The Supreme Court, earlier this month gave the government an additional month and a half to pass the bill, delaying an early December deadline to mid-January.
The decision for an early election comes just a month after Avigdor Liberman resigned as defence minister and his party, Yisrael Beytenu left the coalition, leaving it with a very small majority of just 61 out of 120 Knesset members.
