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While new parliamentary elections are scheduled for September 17 after the recent dissolution of the Israeli parliament, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is considering canceling the poll.
With our correspondent in Jerusalem, Guilhem Delteil
Benyamin Netanyahu seems to have changed his mind. After provoking the dissolution of the Knesset and triggering a new election campaign following his failure to form a government, the Israeli prime minister is now considering canceling the parliamentary elections scheduled for 17 September.
Officially, the initiative comes from the Speaker of Parliament and the head of government promises to study the proposal. But officials of Likud, the party of Benyamin Netanyahu, recognize that it is the prime minister who is at the maneuver.
► See also: Legislative Anticipation in Israel: the risky gamble of Benyamin Netanyahu
Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, the Speaker of the Knesset, said he was approached by MPs from different sides to avoid these new elections, expensive, less than six months after the last election. A new law to block the dissolution could be put to the vote of the deputies. For Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, if she were adopted by a two-thirds majority, she could cancel the previous one. But the legality of the maneuver is already disputed.
Attacked legally, the initiative has not yet received the political support it needs. The opposition rejects it, seeing it as Benyamin Netanyahu's maneuver to stay in power while he is weakened. The latest polls received by the Likud are indeed unfavorable to the Prime Minister: his party would lose at least five seats, his side would not get the majority and his main rival of the moment, his former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman would double or even triple his score. This highly criticized initiative seems to emphasize his feverishness.