JERUSALEM - Israel will hold an early
general election in April, a spokesman for Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, after members of his
governing coalition met to discuss differences over legislation.
"The leaders of the coalition decided unanimously to
dissolve parliament and go to a new election in early April,"
the spokesman wrote on Twitter, quoting from a statement issued
by Netanyahu's political partners.
A coalition crisis over a military conscription bill
affecting exemptions from compulsory service for ultra-Orthodox
Jewish men led to the decision.
Netanyahu, now in his fourth term as prime minister, has
been governing with a razor-thin majority of 61 seats in the
120-member parliament. He heads the right-wing Likud party.
Under Israeli law, a national election had to be held by
November 2019. Netanyahu's government would remain in place
until a new one is sworn in, after the April poll.
A series of corruption probes against Netanyahu and pending
decisions by Israel's attorney general on whether to follow
police recommendations to indict him had raised speculation he
would opt to seek a public show of confidence at the ballot box.
Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing in the cases and has
given no indication he will step down if charged.
The 69-year-old Israeli leader made no immediate comment
after his meeting with the coalition leaders. Recent opinion
polls have shown his popularity remains strong among Israelis.
The likelihood of an early election increased in November
after Netanyahu’s defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, quit the
government, leaving the ruling coalition with its one-seat
majority.
No one in Netanyahu’s Likud has made a public challenge
against him, and the party is expected to close ranks around him
in the coming election.
Outside Likud, Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid
opposition party, is seen as the strongest candidate to succeed
Netanyahu in any upset. Lapid’s party is second to Likud in
opinion polls.
Israel’s former army chief, Benny Gantz, is seen as a dovish
potential candidate who could tip the balance in favour of a
center-left bloc, but has not yet thrown his hat in the ring.
On the right, Lieberman and Naftali Bennett, head of the
Jewish Home party, could both seek to lead a right-wing bloc if
Likud emerges in a weaker position in an election.
Netanyahu first led Israel from 1996 to 1999, and returned
in 2009. His current government has been in power since May
2015.