JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scrambling to pass a state budget and avoid early elections, which he is expected to lose, with the conflict in Iran doing little to boost his poll numbers.
In the early days of the war, Netanyahu’s camp saw an opportunity for his right-wing coalition to profit on the opening salvo that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by holding elections before the scheduled October date, according to a source familiar with Netanyahu’s political strategy.
One method to prompt fast elections is for parliament to fail to pass the budget by March 31, which, under Israeli legislation, would result in a vote within 90 days. As US-Israeli attacks killed a number of high-ranking Iranian officials, some of Netanyahu’s confidants publicly discussed the idea of a June referendum.
However, over four weeks into a conflict that has so far failed to achieve its professed goal of deposing Iran’s clerical authorities, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister is seeking to avoid early elections, according to three members of his government.
To prevent an early contest, political allies were allocated monies to achieve a majority vote in parliament, and the budget was rushed through the Finance Committee to meet the deadline next week. Netanyahu’s spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
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