Israel election timetable. What happens now?
The country is going to the polls on April 9, 2019, and there is a well-honed order of events in the run-up to and the aftermath of the big day.
Israel's political system was thrown into tumult Monday with the dramatic announcement by the leaders of the coalition parties to dissolve the Knesset immediately and go to elections.
Naturally, the political reality changed at the moment that the dissolution of the Knesset was announced, and politicians began looking ahead to the next government.
Political leaders met to decide upon the timeline from now until Election Day. Following a discussion with the heads of all parties, it was decided that the elections for the 21st Knesset will be held on Tuesday, April 9, 2019.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked announced that in accordance with the decision by the party leaders, she began work on the bill to dissolve the Knesset. On Wednesday, the members of the Ministerial Committee on Legislation will hold a teleconference on the bill, and later that day it will have all three readings in the Knesset plenum.
After the dissolution of the 20th Knesset, the coalition and the opposition still will be able to submit agreed-upon bills, while any other legislation is shelved or frozen. As of Wednesday, January 2, 2019 the Knesset will be in recess.
In the near future, Knesset members in the Likud, the Labor Party, the Jewish Home and Meretz will face the most difficult pre-election hurdle: primaries. Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud, Avi Gabbay of Labour, Naftali Bennett of Jewish Home, and Tamar Zandberg of Meretz have already been elected as party leader.
The Likud primaries are likely to take place in early February. The Labor Party has yet to discuss the final date, but it seems likely that they will take place end of January or the beginning of February at the latest. Meretz plans to hold the primaries between early and mid-February.
