JERUSALEM, June 20 (Reuters) – Israeli lawmakers will vote to dissolve parliament, paving the way for the country’s fifth election in three years, after weeks of pressure on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s fragile ruling coalition.
Bennett will step down to be replaced by Foreign Minister Jair Lapid, his partner in the unlikely coalition of opposites that ended former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12-year rule 12 months ago.
Lapid, a former journalist who heads the coalition’s largest party, will be interim prime minister until new elections are held.
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A vote will be held in parliament next week, after which Lapid will take over as prime minister, an official said.
“I think the government has done a very good job in the last year. It is unfortunate that the country needs to be involved in elections,” said Defense Minister Benny Ganz, leader of a centrist party in the coalition.
“But we will continue to function as an interim government as long as possible,” he said.
The move comes just weeks before US President Joe Biden’s planned visit, which the government relied on to help boost regional security ties against Israel’s longtime enemy Iran.
The future of the eight-party coalition, which includes staunch right-wing, liberal and Arab parties, seemed increasingly threatened as a handful of members left, leaving it without a clear majority in parliament.
As pressure on the government has intensified in recent days, Bennett, a former special forces commando and technology millionaire who entered national politics in 2013, said his government has boosted economic growth, reduced unemployment and eliminated the deficit. for the first time in 14 years.
But he failed to keep the coalition together and decided to step down before Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party could submit its own proposal to dissolve parliament.
Netanyahu, who has promised to return despite facing corruption lawsuits, mocked Bennett, a former close aide, saying last week that his government had held “one of the longest funerals in history”.
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Report by Ari Rabinovich; Edited by Alex Richardson and Philippa Fletcher
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