The newly formed Lapid-Bennett coalition submitted an official request on Thursday morning to replace Knesset speaker Yariv Levin with Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy in order to ensure the formation of the new government as quickly as possible.

The Knesset speaker is responsible for scheduling a confidence vote on the new government and the coalition is eager for the vote to take place on Monday, the earliest possible date. Levin, however, is likely to delay the vote until the last date permitted by law, in a week or more, in the hope that the tenuous coalition, with its razor-thin majority of 61 MKs, will break up before then.

The coalition’s plan for speeding up the crucial first step for the formation of the government was thwarted when Yamina MK Nir Orbach, who is considering voting against the unity government, withdrew his signature from the request. He also said that he wasn’t consulted on the move to replace the speaker and his signature was taken from a different document. The coalition now lacks the majority required for the petition.

According to a report by Channel 12, Orbach is not the only MK who is not in full agreement with the coalition and there are others, including Yamina MK Idit Silman and New Hope MKs, whose support of the new government is tenous. Another report named New Hope MK Zeev Elkin as harboring doubts about the coalition and said it’s possible he may even join Orbach in voting againsst it.

It’s possible that the vote could be passed with the vote of MKs from the Joint Arab List. However, a report said that several Yamina MKs said they will not agree to rely on the votes of the Joint List to replace the Knesset speaker or for any other move, saying that it’s a “red line” that they won’t cross.

Bennett called Orbach for a meeting at his home in Ra’anana on Thursday afternoon and also scheduled a meeting for all Yamina members on Friday morning.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)