The Kulanu coalition party, headed by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, is on board with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and it will vote in favor of amending the Basic Law to state that the heads of the parties are the ones who will determine the make up of a coalition, and not the MKs in the parties. Kahlon stated he was convinced there is a hole in the law that needs to be amended.

According to the Chadashot News report of Sunday evening, the matter began with reports that former Likud Minister Gideon Saar reported that in the next Knesset elections, even if Likud emerges the largest party, President Reuven Rivlin may not give Netanyahu the mandate to form the next coalition government. Hence, the bill is being dubbed the ‘Saar Law’.

While Saar denies the information attributed to him, PM Netanyahu is not wasting time and he is working on amending the law so that the president is compelled to give the mandate to the party with the most recommendations to form the coalition. It will also amend the Basic Law to place the coalition decision-making authority in the exclusive hands of party leaders, to the exclusion of MKs. This is to avoid the president deciding to give the mandate to form a coalition to a MK from a party and not the party leader, which the law permits him to do today. While it has not occurred, it is permissible.

It is pointed out that in the last Knesset elections, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised that within 100 days following elections, he was going to amend the form of government. This did not occur due to the adamant objections from the chareidi parties, since the amendment was to include permitting Israeli residents living abroad to vote in Knesset elections. This would severely diminish the power of the chareidi parties in Israel since there are far more secular Israelis living abroad than there are supporters of the chareidi parties.

In addition, the amendment would include the mandate for forming the coalition government would automatically fall on the head of the party with the most seats.

Clearly, Mr. Netanyahu is working to eliminate the president from this decision, and at best, the president will maintain a ceremonious role in the coalition’s formation and nothing more. This is because the prime minister is aware that Saar’s report may be accurate as during recent years, he, Mr. Netanyahu, and President Rivlin, have become political adversaries. PM Netanyahu did not wish to see Rivlin become president and did his utmost to prevent it from happening.

Coalition Chairman MK David Amsellem has already submitted the bill, which basically limits the authority of the president concerning the formation of a coalition and who receives the presidential mandate to do so. The bill is scheduled to be brought to the Ministerial Law Committee on Sunday, 3 Kislev, at which time it will be approved. One must realize that in the case of a private bill such as this, the process usually takes a month to six weeks until it reaches the ministerial committee.

Once passed into law, the president will have to give the mandate to the party head with the most recommendations from other party heads to form the coalition.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)