It was an expected result that signals the end of an era.
During a special session held this Sunday, the Israeli parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the “coalition for change” project, which marks the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reign, the longest in the history of 'Israel, after 12 years in a row in power.
During this session, the centrist Yaïr Lapid and the leader of the radical right Naftali Bennet, presented their team, which has the necessary majority of 61 deputies out of the 120 in the Knesset to reach an agreement on a government.
It is the second who officially becomes Prime Minister.
Of the 119 deputies present, 60 voted in favor of the new coalition, which ranges from right to left, including the support of an Arab party.
Fifty-nine MPs, mostly from Benyamin Netanyahu's Likud party, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, opposed it.
הגיע הזמן לשינוי.
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- יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid🟠 (@yairlapid) June 13, 2021
After the last legislative elections in March, the opposition had united against Benyamin Netanyahu and - an extremely rare fact - had succeeded in rallying the Arab Israeli party Raam of moderate Islamist Mansour Abbas.
Immediate assumption of duties
The new team must take office immediately, even before the symbolic handover ceremony scheduled for Monday. It will be led by Naftali Bennett, the leader of the right-wing Yamina party, for the first two years, then by Yaïr Lapid for an equivalent period. "The government will work for the entire population - religious, secular, ultra-Orthodox, Arabs - without exception," promised this former close to Benjamin Netanyahu. "The population deserves a responsible, efficient government, which places the good of the country at the head of its priorities", added Yaïr Lapid, who should be head of diplomacy initially.
The former prime minister's right-wing Likud party has pledged a "peaceful transfer of power" after more than two years of political crisis marked by four polls which resulted in either an inability to form a government or a government of short-term union.
According to the local press, the former prime minister could also face a wave of protest within Likud itself, elected officials seeking to turn the Netanyahu page internally. Faced for a year in a corruption trial, he is also regularly the target of protests. One of them took place on Saturday evening. In front of his official residence in Jerusalem, demonstrators had, in advance, celebrate the "fall" of "King Bibi", nickname of the one who has been the face of Israel since his return to power in 2009, after three years at the head government from 1996 to 1999.