Israel will hold the fourth elections in two years …

Israel’s parliament was dissolved when it failed to come to an agreement on the state budget, which actually called for new elections, the fourth in about two years.

Parliamentarians had until today at 11:59 p.m. local time to pass a budget and avoid a new election, but when no agreement was reached, parliament was dissolved at midnight.

The abrupt end comes after lawmakers rejected a bill that sought to extend the 2020 budget approval deadline by about a week, which left the stage open to the inevitable call for new early elections in the country.

The bill admitted for processing contemplated extending the 2020 budget approval deadline from December 23 to December 31, but was rejected by a narrow margin (49 versus 47 lawmakers) and therefore after midnight the Knesset (Parliament ) dissolved.

The divergences over the budget are a blow to the fragile government coalition formed in March between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his longtime rival Benny Gantz.

Now Israel faces its fourth general election in two years.

On Monday, Gantz presented Netanyahu with five demands in the last round of negotiations, and assured that if the latter did not agree to include them, “we would go to the elections.”

After three parliamentary elections that failed to secure a clear winner between Netanyahu and Gantz, the two candidates decided in April to form a “unity and emergency” government to deal with the pandemic Covid-19, ending the longest political crisis in the country’s history.

The deal between the two leaders called for a rotation of the prime minister’s post and stipulated that the government would adopt a single budget for two years (2020 and 2021), but Netanyahu’s Likud offered to vote on two different budgets, a position that was rejected by the centrist Blue and White Gantz Formation.

This point has become the Achilles heel of the coalition and also, according to the Israeli press, the trigger for tensions between Netanyahu and Gantz.

According to analysts, this budget crisis was Netanyahu’s way of triggering new elections and thus avoiding ceding power to his partner in November 2021.

The call for new elections emerges amid the health crisis, and just as Israel has just begun its vaccination campaign against covid-19, which has so far caused 380,000 cases in the country, including more than 3,100 died.

It also coincides with Netanyahu embroiled in a court battle, accused of corruption, fraud and breach of trust in three cases.

Prime Minister is also in the crosshairs of his own party. Its former Minister of Education and the Interior, Gideon Saar, announced in December the creation of his own formation Tikva Hadasha (New Hope), openly allied on the right, and to which the polls give the second position in the intention to vote.

Although Likud leads the polls, the emergence of this new party and the rise of the radical far-right Yamina formation of another former minister, Naftali Bennett, would take votes away from Netanyahu and could complicate the alliance game. post-election.

On your side, Former army chief Benny Gantz sees his support dwindle and its formation disintegrates.