Seventy-five-year-old Nahum Nir today was elected Speaker of the Parliament, succeeding the late Josef Sprinzak, defeating the Mapai Party’s candidate, Berl Locker, by a vote of 53-41.
Mr. Nir received the support of Ahdut Avoda, Mapam, the Herut Party which originally nominated him for the post, General Zionists, National Religious Party, and Communist Party. The Progressive Party and the members of Parliament representing Agudath Israel abstained. There was a division also among the members of the Cabinet, three leftist Ministers joining the opposition to defeat Mr. Locker.
The election of Mr. Nir widens the rift between Mapai and the leftist partners of the coalition government–Ahdut Avoda and Mapam. Until the very last moment, Mapai made frantic efforts to gain backing for Mr. Locker from the former coalition members, the National Religious Party, as well as from the Progressives, who are in the coalition, and from Agudath Israel.
The defeat for Mapai is seen as sharper since Mr. Nir’s name for the speakership was originally proposed by the right-wing Herut Party, and not by his own party, the left-wing Ahdut Avoda. Warsaw-born Mr. Nir, who received a traditional Jewish education, is considered by many as anti-clerical. However, he told the press prior to his election that, if chosen Speaker, he would refrain from travel on the Sabbath out of consideration for the feelings of his religious electors.
Mr. Nir had pursued his secular studies at St. Petersburg, later studied at Dorpat and Zurich Universities, and obtained a law degree. He came to Palestine in 1925. He has served in Parliament during every session since the rebirth of Israel. Recently, he was Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
Ground-breaking ceremonies were held this morning for the new Parliament on a hill overlooking new Jerusalem. The new building will be constructed at a cost of 6, 000, 000 pounds sterling ($16,800,000) bequeathed for the purpose by the late James de Rothschild of London. Prior to the ground-breaking, the traditional “thirtieth day” ritual memorializing the dead was observed at the grave of the late Speaker of the Knesset Josef Sprinzak in the National Cemetery atop Mt. Herzl.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
