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Israeli parliament votes to dissolve, triggering fifth election in four years

30 June 2022 12:16 (UTC +04:00)

The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has voted to dissolve itself, triggering new elections, APA reports citing CNN.

On Friday, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will take over as caretaker prime minister under the terms of a coalition agreement made between outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Lapid last year.

Thursday's 92-0 vote brings an end to Bennett's run as prime minister -- one of the shortest terms in Israeli history -- and gives former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a path to return to power.

New elections will be held on November 1 -- the fifth round of voting for Israelis in less than four years. Recent polling shows former prime minister Netanyahu's Likud party on track to win the most number of seats, but the polls do not show that his right-wing bloc will necessarily have enough seats to gain a parliamentary majority and be able to form a ruling government.

Bennett said on Wednesday that he will not run for re-election, saying it was "time to step back a little" and "look at things from the outside."