The 11th president of the State of Israel is due to be elected on Wednesday when 120 Knesset members vote by secret ballot.
The MKs will choose between Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog, whose father was the sixth president, and Israel Prize-winning educator Miriam Peretz, who gained fame for her messages of unity after two of her sons were killed in combat in the IDF.The MKs can also cast an empty ballot.
If elected, Peretz would become Israel’s first woman president. If Herzog wins, he would become the first president whose father had been president.
Both Herzog, who visited the Western Wall on Tuesday to pray for success, and Peretz continued their efforts to meet with as many MKs as possible ahead of the vote.
Every Knesset faction has granted its MKs the freedom to vote their conscience, rather than binding them by faction discipline. None of the factions endorsed a candidate.
This is the first presidential race in Israel in which none of the candidates were current MKs.
Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin will formally initiate the vote at 11:00 a.m. Knesset secretary Yardena Muller Horowitz will summon the MKs in alphabetical order to vote in a special ballot box in the Knesset plenum.
The votes will be counted by the four MKs on the balloting committee: David Bitan (Likud), Emilie Moatti (Labor), Yoel Razvozov (Yesh Atid) and Yosef Taieb (Shas). A revote would be held if neither candidate receives 61-vote majority.
Once there is a winner, Levin, the deputy Knesset speakers and Muller Horowitz will visit the room allotted to the candidate who won to announce the results.
The new president will be sworn in when President Reuven Rivlin’s term ends on July 9.
Just in time for the presidential election, Levin decided on Tuesday to end coronavirus precautions at the Knesset. A Green Pass will no longer be required to enter the building, dividers will be removed between seats in Knesset committees, and there will no longer be limitations on the number of people in a room. Masks will still be required in the building.
The cafeteria reserved for MKs and the press would reopen for seating on Wednesday with a new chef, veteran Knesset cafeteria staffer Kevin Dean said. The cafeteria was closed for most of the past 15 months and eventually was only opened for takeout in plastic bags.