Israel govt collapses: 40% people blame PM Netanyahu for snap elections, reveals survey

A recent survey showed that over 40 per cent of Israeli’s blame PM Benjamin Netanyahu for the necessity to hold snap parliamentary elections, while nearly 18 per cent believe that Defense Minister Benny Gantz is responsible for the same. On early Wednesday, Israel’s divided government had collapsed, triggering the country’s fourth election in under two years. Now, while the speaker of Israel’s 120-seat unicameral parliament Knesset, Yariv Levin, said that the early parliamentary elections in the country would take place on March 23, 2021, the survey, which was published hours before the dissolution, showed that majority Israelis blame Netanyahu for the fact the country will go to polls for the fourth time. 

According to the survey by Kantar company, 43 per cent of respondents said that Netanyahu was responsible. The respondents were also asked who they see as the most suitable candidate for the post of PM, to which 39 per cent of nationals chose the acting PM, while 36 per cent would like to see former Interior Minister Gideon Saar. Further, 23 per cent even named ex-defence minister Naftali Bennett. 

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Dissolution of Knesset 

The recent polls showed that if elections were held now, Netanyahu’s Likud party would receive 28 mandates, Saar’s new party, on the other hand, would have 20 seats, while Yamina would get 15 mandates. According to reports, it had emerged that the main coalition partners in the Israeli government, i.e., Likud and Blue and White parties, agreed that the next state budget would be adopted on December 31, which would make it possible to avoid an early dissolution of the parliament and holding early elections. 

However, on Wednesday, Knesset, by a majority vote, rejected in the first reading the bill extending the budget approval period for 2020 and 2021, which led to the dissolution of the parliament due to the non-approval of the state budget. The deeper cause of the troubled partnership still remains that the hostility and mistrust from the outset. For seven months, Gantz has suffered a number of humiliations and been kept out of the loop on key decisions, such as a series of US-brokered diplomatic agreements with Arab countries.

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