The Labor Alignment said yesterday that 52 Knesset members have endorsed a bill calling for the dissolution of the Knesset and early elections. According to Moshe Shahal, chairman of the Labor Alignment caucus, two more MKs have promised their support bringing the measure to within seven votes of passage.
Shahal said the signatories represent the full political spectrum in parliament. They include, in addition to Labor, the Communist Party, Shinui, Sheli, Civil Rights Movement and the Independent Liberals, all parties at various distances to the left of center and the rightwing Tehiya. In addition, the bill was endorsed by former Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and former Defense Minister Ezer Weizman, both now sitting in parliament as independents.
The some apposition bloc failed by only three votes last Wednesday to topple Premier Menachem Begin’s coalition government on a no-confidence motion aimed at the government’s economic policies. The Labor Alignment intends to present another no-confidence motion next month if the consumer price index for November shows an increase at or around 11 percent as it aid in October.
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.
