Moments after the government's request to postpone the elections to the local authorities, Yesh Atid announced today (Sunday) that the party will support the postponement of the elections to February 27. This effectively guarantees a majority in the Knesset's Interior Committee to approve the government's request.
As a reminder, after a struggle that has been going on for the past few weeks, the government unanimously approved the signing of an order to postpone the local authority elections to February 27, 2024. The Chairman of the Interior Committee Yaakov Asher (United Torah Judaism) welcomed the government's decision and announced that he will convene the committee tomorrow to ratify the order.
Now the decision is subject to the approval of the Knesset's Interior Committee, which must approve it with a majority of 75% of the committee's members, that is, with the agreement of at least two opposition members. As mentioned, the support of Yesh Atid guarantees the required majority even without the other parties.
The decision was made after last Wednesday the government asked the IDF to complete the missing data regarding the number of fighters who cannot be released and in how many authorities they are candidates. From the IDF data we learn that 688 servicemen who cannot be released are now competing in 144 authorities. Based on this, the government decided to postpone the date.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the beginning of the meeting: "We usually do not hold elections in wartime, but these elections were predetermined. They have already been postponed once, it is very difficult to postpone them for a very long time, but there are two options: either to hold them at the end of January, or to hold them them at the end of February. My recommendation is clear: do it at the end of February, to allow as many reservists as possible to participate in the elections. This is an elementary and important right."