The Israeli Labor Party voted on Sunday to join the union government, which is due to come under an agreement between right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former centrist rival Benny Gantz.
The members of the party convention voted by 64.2% in favor of this agreement providing for the establishment of a government which will be firstly led by Netanyahu and then by Gantz.
Read also: Israel: Netanyahu and Gantz form an emergency government
The agreement, initialed last week after 16 months of political crisis and three ballots that failed to decide between the two rivals, provides for elections to be held in three years. The government will be made up of 32 ministers for the first six months to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, and then 36, the largest cabinet in Israeli history.
Benjamin Netanyahu, whose corruption trial has been postponed due to the health crisis, will be Prime Minister for the first 18 months, after which he will be replaced by Benny Gantz.
The two camps will share the ministries equally, with the Defense and Justice portfolios for Gantz and his allies, and those of Finance and Health for the Netanyahu camp.
Also: The Controversial Litzman Leaves Israel's Ministry of Health
Labor Party leader Amir Peretz had signed an agreement with Benny Gantz and agreed to join the government. Apart from Peretz, only one of the two other elected members of the left-wing party wished to join the coalition. Two portfolios, that of the Economy and that of Social Affairs should be entrusted to them.
Amir Peretz, former defense minister and ex-head of Histadrut, the main union center in Israel, was elected party leader in July 2019. "We are not joining a right-wing government," said after the vote Mr. Peretz, but "to a union government with a rotation." "Our strategic cooperation with Benny Gantz will bring the Labor Party back to its natural place as an influential political movement in Israel," said Peretz, said a statement.