Israel announces early general elections to be held in April 2019
ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Leaders of Israel's governing coalition announced on Monday that they have agreed to hold the next general elections early, moving them forward from the scheduled autumn date to April of next year, EFE reports.
Israelis are thus set to take to the ballots half a year earlier than expected, as the current legislative term was set to expire in November.
"Out of national and budgetary responsibility, the leaders of the coalition parties decided, unanimously and unanimously, to dissolve the Knesset (parliament) and go to new elections at the beginning of April after a four-year term," the government coalition said in a statement.
"The partnership in the Knesset and in the government will continue during the elections," the statement published by local media added.
The call for early elections is a new chapter in a government crisis caused by disagreement over a bill to increase the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox Jewish people for mandatory military service, proposed by Yesh Atid, one of the main coalition parties that is led by Yair Lapid.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has scheduled a vote on the bill - which is rejected by religious sectors that are also a part of the coalition - on Jan. 7.
Lapid, however, announced his party would vote against the bill, breaking the coalition's consensus as he considered that Netanyahu had given in to ultra-Orthodox interest groups out of fear.
The prime minister was weakened last month after Avigdor Lieberman had resigned as defense minister due to disagreement over the need to carry out a military offensive in the Gaza Strip.