Netanyahu Says Will Push for Sept. 4 Vote
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he will push for September 4 as the date for early elections, as he moved to have a bill passed to dissolve parliament.
"We are proposing September 4," Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting, stressing that the target was to hold elections in four months' time.
A draft of the agenda for Monday's meeting of the ministerial Committee for Legislation includes a vote on a bill to dissolve the 18th Knesset, and a proposal "to bring forth the date of the elections for the 19th Knesset to Tuesday, September 4, 2012."
The bill is expected to easily pass the ministerial vote, but could face opposition when it comes before the Knesset later on Monday from the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, the center-right Kadima party and the centrist Independence party.
All three parties would like to delay dissolving the Knesset until MPs have voted on a new law governing military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews.
On Sunday night, Netanyahu announced his intention to bring forward the elections from the scheduled date of October 2013, but he didn't give an exact date.
"I don't want there to be a year-and-a-half of political instability accompanied by blackmail and populism. I'd prefer a short electoral campaign of four months that will ensure political stability," he told a meeting of his rightwing Likud party in Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu's speech on Sunday ended months of speculation about whether he would seek to bring forward the elections in a bid to bolster his position and capitalize on his popularity.
Polls show he could hardly have picked a better time to seek re-election, with surveys showing he easily outstrips his rivals for the office of prime minister.
Source: Agence France Presse
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