Likud may delay electoral reform plans

Proposals call for raising the threshold to 4% and limiting the number of ministers to 18.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Knesset MKs at plenum 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Knesset MKs at plenum 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Efforts to advance the electoral reform bills of Yisrael Beytenu and Yesh Atid could be stymied due to opposition from the Likud, a key figure in the ruling party said on Wednesday.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman has vowed to pass his party’s plan in its final readings in the Knesset before its summer recess begins in August. The Knesset Law Committee, which is headed by Liberman ally David Rotem, will begin deliberations on the bill next week.
Likud officials say they would block efforts by Yisrael Beytenu to limit noconfidence motions to once a month. They said that after they submitted countless no-confidence motions when they were in the opposition, they could not limit them while they are in power.
“Let the opposition blabber all they want,” Deputy Minister for Liaison with the Knesset Ophir Akunis said.
Akunis told the Knesset plenum on Monday that there are also disputes inside the coalition on whether to raise the electoral threshold from 2 to 3 or 4 percent. Such a decision could determine whether the smallest faction in the next Knesset will be four or five MKs, up from the current two.
Bayit Yehudi and Hatnua are against raising the threshold at all.
The Law Committee is expected to combine the proposals of Rotem and Yesh Atid MK Ronen Hoffman.
Both proposals call for raising the threshold to 4% and limiting the number of ministers to 18, but the bills differ on how to handle no-confidence motions and other issues.