Three months after Israel legislative elections (בְּחִירוֹת), the country heads towards elections again.

The elections held in April 2019 went as planned. The right wing parties (מִפְלָגוֺת הַיָּמִין) won a majority of votes, and it was pretty obvious that Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader (מַנְהִיג) of the biggest right wing party (מִפְלָגָה), will continue to lead Israel as its prime minister (רֹאשׁ מֶמְשָׁלָה). But the election process ends only after the assembling of the government (מֶמְשָׁלָה), which Netanyahu didn’t accomplish.

After the election results are published, the president of Israel (נָשִׂיא הַמְּדׅינָה) begins his consultations with the different elected party leaders. The leaders arrive at the president’s residence to recommend their candidate (מָעֳמָד) for leading the government. While this typically is the leader of the party wining the most seats, it is not required to be so. Within seven days after the election the president of Israel mandates upon one of the members of the Knesset (חָבֵר כְּנֶסֶת) the task of forming the government. In April 17th, the president assigned this task to Netanyahu:

The chosen member has up to 42 days to negotiate with the different parties, before presenting his government to the Knesset. Ostensibly, assembling a right wing coalition (קוֹאָלִיצְיָה) was supposed to be an easy task for Netanyahu. It was his fifth time to assemble a government; the right wing parties won ten more seats than the left wing parties (מִפְלָגוֺת הַשְּׂמֹאל); and a majority of 64 lawmakers (מְחוֹקֵקׅים) recommended him to build the next coalition. But for the first time in Israel, an elected prime minister failed to assemble a coalition.

Try it yourself. In the next page you can try to form a government according to the results of the April elections:

https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/elections/EXT-INTERACTIVE-1.6964491

The deadline for presenting the government was midnight on the 29th of May. According to the law (חֹוק), if the president’s chosen candidate fails, the president should lay the task (מְשִׂימָה) on another Knesset member (not necessary a party leader) within 3 days. If the second candidate cannot form a government, the power is passed on to the Knesset members. They are eligible to offer the president their own candidate in a signed letter. If after all these efforts, no one success in forming a coalition, there is no choice but to hold new (חָדָשׁוֺת) elections for the next government.

But none of these attempts has been implemented. To prevent the awarding of the mandate (מַנְדָּט) to another candidate, Netanyahu submitted a law to dissolve (לְפָזֵר) the Knesset. On Wednesday the 29th of May, just before midnight, the Knesset approved the Knesset Dispersion Law by a majority of 74 to 45:

The next elections will be held on 17 September 2019.

 

Text vocabulary

Elections = בְּחִירוֹת

Right wing parties = מִפְלָגוֺת הַיָּמִין

Leader = מַנְהִיג

Party = מִפְלָגָה

Prime minister = רֹאשׁ מֶמְשָׁלָה

Government = מֶמְשָׁלָה

The president of Israel = נָשִׂיא הַמְּדׅינָה

Candidate = מָעֳמָד

Member of the Knesset = חָבֵר כְּנֶסֶת

Coalition = קוֹאָלִיצְיָה

Left wing parties = מִפְלָגוֺת הַשְּׂמֹאל

Lawmakers = מְחוֹקֵקׅים

Law = חֹוק

Task = מְשִׂימָה

New = חָדָשׁ

Mandate = מַנְדָּט

To dissolve = לְפָזֵר

Keep Calm and Vote!

---

---