Jerusalem: Israeli Parliament MPs are set to start the marathon selection on Wednesday to try and provide the first national budget in three years, a main test for the clear coalition government sworn in earlier this year after four split elections.
The failure to pass the budget at the age of November 14 will bring down the government and trigger another election, giving the former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the best chance to return to power.
The coalition includes eight parties from the entire political spectrum and has a thin margin of razor 61 seats in the assembly of 120 members.
If Netanyahu and its allies can peel only one defector, the budget can fail to graduate, but most expect it will, if only because the coalition firmly united against it.
“When the budget passes, this is buying government stability for several years, and what the opposition means is disintegration,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett earlier this week.
“They are desperate to drop the budget and bring us to the fifth election, this is their goal.” The Knesset, Israeli Parliament, is expected to start voting on hundreds of amendments in a marathon session that leads to the final vote on Thursday or Friday.
The government has given himself a 10-day window in front of a hard deadline if there is a surprise.
Israel entered a prolonged political crisis after the election in April 2019, when a right-wing party that had allied with Netanyahu refused to sit in the government with him.
The next two years bring three louder elections without clear winners, and Netanyahu’s charges for serious corruption allegations, which he refused.
The government was formed in June including the parties of the entire political spectrum of United with a little more than the desire to avoid the government led by Netanyahu or more elections.
But a fragile coalition is expected to significantly expand its rules if it passes through the budget.