Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope) instructed ministry officials on Monday to prepare a bill that will limit a prime minister to eight years in office.
The bill will be brought to the cabinet and the Knesset in its winter session that begins in October and ends in March.
Despite expectations that the bill would be retroactive and would apply to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sources close to Sa’ar said the legislation would be “prospective, not retroactive” and that Sa’ar never supported retroactive term limits.
“The obligation to term limits is part of New Hope’s platform, and that is why it was included in the coalition agreement,” Sa’ar said. “Staying in office too long brings a concentration of power and a danger of corruption, so term limits must be included in our Basic Laws.”
Another bill that would prevent a candidate under indictment from receiving a mandate to form a government is already being drafted by the ministry and will also be put to a vote in the winter term. That bill will be retroactive and would apply to Netanyahu.
“[Sa’ar] did not surrender [to Netanyahu],” a source close to Sa’ar said.