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Report: Israel PM planning for new elections

November 27, 2020 at 9:23 am

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers a statement to the press during a Likud Party meeting on 1 March 2020 in the city of Lod, Israel. [Amir Levy/Getty Images]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held a series of meetings with members of his Likud party to hold internal elections in preparation for holding general elections, Public broadcasting corporation Makan reported.

Sources said Netanyahu confirmed during the meetings that he does not intend to pass the state budget for the next fiscal year and that the goal now is to preserve the current government as much as possible, the broadcaster revealed.

Likud member and Minister of Higher Education, Ze’ev Elkin, accused the alternate Prime Minister, who is also head of the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) party, Benny Gantz, of dragging Israel towards a fourth election by forming a commission of inquiry into the purchase of submarines and warships. Cases which have seen Netanyahu charged with fraud and corruption.

Israel could be heading for its fourth election in two years as its fragile coalition, made up of the Likud and Blue and White parties mainly, is collapsing due to disagreements over the state budget.

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