PM Netanyahu
Photo: AP
Netanyahu says Likud aiming for 40 mandates in next elections
Speaking at a conference in Ramat Gan of Likud local election candidates, PM says 35 mandates would also be a ‘reasonable’ increase on his party's current 30-seat hold in the Knesset, while indicating that the 2019 elections may be held ahead of schedule; 'I don’t know exactly when they will take place.'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he was aiming to achieve 40 mandates for his Likud party in the 2019 national elections, while indicating that they may be held ahead of schedule.
“In the general elections, and I don’t know exactly when they will take place, 35 mandates is reasonable, 40 mandates is the target. We are aiming for that,” Netanyahu said during a conference in Ramat Gan of Likud candidates running in local elections.
In the 2015 elections, the Likud party clinched 30 mandates, compelling Netanyahu to cobble together other right-wing and centrist parties, forming a coalition with a slender majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
PM Netanyahu at the conference in Ramat Gan
“In the upcoming local elections, we will strengthen the Likud throughout the country. We will do so with the huge support of the Israeli public which sees the massive achievements we have made,” the prime minister said at the conference in the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel, in which 100 Likud representatives participated.
The coalition, which is propped up by the Haredi party, has been embroiled in repeated crises over the IDF draft bill.
The draft bill, which is opposed by ultra-Orthodox parties who want to continue exemptions made for Yeshiva students from entering the military, was supposed to be passed in September, but at the request of the state, the High Court of Justice (HCJ) issued an extension of three months which expires in December.
However, Netanyahu stepped in and issued an ultimatum in a bid to expedite the process.
Speaking at a Likud ministers meeting a week-and-a-half ago, Netanyahu said that "if a solution to the draft law is not found, a date for general elections will be set within two weeks."
With or without early elections, a confident Netanyahu told his party members in Ramat Gan that Likud could expect better results as the nation prepares to go to the polls next year.
“With God’s help and with your help, the Likud faction will grow to the skies. I wish you success in the upcoming elections, we will support you and help you. On to a great victory!” he said.
“We are all defending the same country and we all want the development of the same country. The State of Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people and safeguards equal rights for all its citizens,” the prime minister added, celebrating the Knesset’s recent passage of the Nation-State Law.
“And we are doing that. Against all the defiance, against all the slander, we will continue to do this, but with one difference. Unlike last time when we fell to 12 twelve mayors, we will go up. We will make do in these elections with an increase of 20 percent,” Netanyahu continued.
