Israel to hold fifth election in less than four years after Netanyahu govt collapse

Israel is poised to hold a fifth election in less than four years after the approval of a bill to dissolve the parliament, following the collapse of a short-lived coalition government that came together to remove longtime prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office.

Members of the Knesset voted unanimously in favor of the bill, with a deadline of midnight on Wednesday for it to be finalised as law.

As a result of an existing power-sharing agreement, elections are expected to be held at the end of October, after several major Jewish holidays and the foreign minister, Yair Lapid, will take over as caretaker leader from the prime minister, Naftali Bennett.

Bennett announced last week that he had exhausted his government in an attempt to pre-empt the Netanyahu-led opposition, which had repeatedly threatened a vote of no confidence.

Lapid and Bennett ended Netanyahu's record reign a year ago by forming a rare alliance of right, left and Arab parties that overcame significant ideological differences to remove him, but the coalition faltered because of infighting and defections that kept it from passing legislation.

The final straw came after an inability to agree on extending legal protections for Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank, despite its ideological divides from the outset.

The former prime minister hopes to win a sixth term in office despite being charged with corruption on charges he denies.

Israel s coalition and the opposition have sparred over the timing of the dissolution bill since last week: the government wanted quick approval of the legislation, while Netanyahu and his allies wanted more time to talk about forming a new government from within the current parliament, which would have averted new elections.

Netanyahu s efforts to form a new government had stalled, despite the opposition s readiness to dissolve parliament.

While his Likud party is consistently leading in the polls, it is not likely that the rightwing-religious bloc, nor the centre-left bloc led by Lapid, would win an outright majority. Likud may be able to work with other parties only if it promises to remove Netanyahu as leader.

Israel deals with rising costs of living and an escalation of tensions with Iran as a result of the new elections. Israel held four inconclusive elections between 2019 and 2021, which were largely referendums on Netanyahu's ability to govern while on trial.