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Israeli legislature to be dissolved next week

02 May 2012 20:22 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Israeli Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday said a bill to dissolve the parliament and bring forward general elections will likely be finalized next week, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Rivlin’s spokesman told Xinhua that the Likud-led government coalition will support the bill, due to be submitted by the opposition Labor and Meretz parties.

"Rivlin estimates that the discussions will begin on Monday with a preliminary reading, and will be finalized by Tuesday or Wednesday," the spokesman said, adding that "The parliament will most likely be dissolved on Wednesday."

While all the coalition parties have acknowledged that the current Knesset session is in its final days, the only missing variable for the upcoming elections is the date on which they will be held.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now observing a traditional seven-day (Shiva) mourning period following his father ’s death on Monday, is expected to announce the date of the elections at his Likud faction meeting next Sunday, Israeli officials told local Nana 10 news on Tuesday.

Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office told The Jerusalem Post that Netanyahu would like to hold the elections as soon as possible, preferably in August or September. Local political analysts suggest that the rush may be to prevent rivals like Kadima’s Shaul Mofaz and recent rising political star ex-newsman Yair Lapid from putting down electoral roots in some of Likud’s secular, middle-class demographic sectors.

Other coalition parties, such as Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu and the ultra-religious Shas, also called to hold the elections as soon as possible.