With government formation still ahead, Yashar! leader Gadi Eisenkot said Tuesday that four opposition allies agreed to put Matan Kahana forward as their candidate for speaker of the 26th Knesset.
He reached the agreement with Be’Yahad leader Naftali Bennett, Democrats leader Yair Golan, Yisrael Beitenu leader and former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, and opposition leader Yair Lapid. The proposed committee chairs are Liberman for Foreign Affairs and Defense, Liran Avishar Ben-Horin for Finance, and Roy Folkman for Arrangements.
The Finance Committee handles the national budget, taxes and public spending. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee covers diplomacy, military affairs and security. The Arrangements Committee helps organize the standing committees and identify their proposed leaders. The agreement does not fill these posts: Knesset members must elect the speaker, and the committee lineups require parliamentary approval.
Yashar! won 21 seats in the Oct. 27 election, Be’Yahad won 12, the Democrats eight and Yisrael Beitenu seven. Together, the four parties hold 48 seats, 13 short of the 61 needed for a majority in the 120-member Knesset.
President Isaac Herzog gave Eisenkot the government formation mandate on Nov. 8 after factions representing 67 seats recommended him. Factions with 46 seats recommended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while a seven-seat faction recommended neither. The recommendations do not commit those lawmakers to supporting the government Eisenkot may form.
Eisenkot said the proposed committee lineups would first be discussed by the Arrangements Committee, then go to the Knesset plenum for approval Wednesday, Nov. 11. That is his stated target, and the law gives him 28 days from his appointment to form a government, with a possible extension of up to 14 days.
