Next Wednesday’s vote to elect the next president could be canceled, due to a dispute between Yesh Atid and Likud, Yesh Atid sources said on Tuesday.
All 120 Knesset members are set to choose in a secret ballot either Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog or Israel Prize-winning educator Miriam Peretz as Israel’s 11th president in place of Reuven Rivlin, who is completing his term of office.
The vote requires the rubber stamp of the Knesset Arrangements Committee that is currently headed by Yesh Atid MK Karin Elharrar.
Yesh Atid is angry at Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) for blocking votes onbills seen as aimed at harming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that were advanced on Monday in Elharrar’s committee.
She wanted to bring them for a first reading in the plenum on Wednesday but Levin and his deputies decided that only government-backed bills would be brought before the plenum in the next two weeks.
Yesh Atid responded by adding more deputy Knesset speakers from the opposition to outnumber Levin and his allies to cancel out his advantage but only Levin can convene his deputies to change the Knesset agenda, and he has no plans to do so.
Canceling the vote for president is the only weapon Yesh Atid can use in the Knesset to try to force Levin’s hand, but if the vote is not held by June 9, Levin himself would serve as acting presoident until a new one is elected. One of the Knesset speaker’s roles is to fill in for the president.
Sources in Yesh Atid acknowledged that enabling Levin to become the acting president was not a very effective threat for their cause. They said that Levin and his staff had not yet responded to their threat on Tuesday evening, ten hours after it was aired on Army Radio in a morning broadcast.
Levin’s office said Elharrar’s true intention was to disperse the Knesset next Wednesday, and that it was disrespectful to hold political votes on the day when a new president is elected. A spokesman for Levin said he would not respond to her threat.
“This is a very stupid threat,” a Levin associate said. “The election for president is meant to unify Israel, especially at a time when unity is so needed. She can hold the vote in her committee if she wants, or let Yariv become president.”