00:27Israel: Knesset dissolved, early elections set for April
Members of Israel's legislature have voted to dissolve the 20th Knesset in order to hold early elections on April 9th, during a session in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
The bill to dissolve the legislature was approved nearly unanimously, with 102 in favour and only two opposing votes.
As he confirmed the bill had been approved, Speaker of the Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein called for a clean campaign and hoped the 21st Knesset would be "more transparent."
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Knesset would be dissolved and early elections will be held in April 2019. .
According to Israeli law, elections could have been held as late as November 2019, but Netanyahu's recent failure to gather sufficient support for the passage of controversial legislation aimed at limiting military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews is thought to have led to the government's decision to call elections months earlier.
Following the resignation of Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the withdrawal of his Yisrael Beiteinu party from the Prime Minister's governing coalition in November, Netanyahu was left with a majority of only one seat in the Knesset, with 61 seats out of the 120-member body.
00:27Mandatory Credit to: Knesset Channel
Members of Israel's legislature have voted to dissolve the 20th Knesset in order to hold early elections on April 9th, during a session in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
The bill to dissolve the legislature was approved nearly unanimously, with 102 in favour and only two opposing votes.
As he confirmed the bill had been approved, Speaker of the Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein called for a clean campaign and hoped the 21st Knesset would be "more transparent."
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Knesset would be dissolved and early elections will be held in April 2019. .
According to Israeli law, elections could have been held as late as November 2019, but Netanyahu's recent failure to gather sufficient support for the passage of controversial legislation aimed at limiting military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews is thought to have led to the government's decision to call elections months earlier.
Following the resignation of Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the withdrawal of his Yisrael Beiteinu party from the Prime Minister's governing coalition in November, Netanyahu was left with a majority of only one seat in the Knesset, with 61 seats out of the 120-member body.