“We cannot have only one representative of the opposition on the State Control Committee,” the Knesset speaker says.
By LAHAV HARKOVKnesset building 390(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Changes will be made to Knesset regulations in order to adapt to a smaller opposition, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said on Monday.“We cannot have only one representative of the opposition on the State Control Committee,” he said. “We must rearrange the Knesset’s committees to fit the new balance of power between the coalition and opposition in a way that allows the opposition to act in the Knesset.”Since the national unity coalition was formed two weeks ago, there have been only 26 MKs in the opposition.Some Knesset panels only have one opposition member, such as the State Control Committee, of which opposition MK Uri Ariel (National Union) is chairman.Labor faction chairman Isaac Herzog presented demands to Rivlin and coalition chairman Ze’ev Elkin (Likud), which included adding opposition MKs to committees, as well as reducing the requisite number of MK signatures needed to require Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to go to the plenum from 40.Rivlin warned against passing a temporary law that would only apply to the current Knesset, suggesting instead that a system be put in place for situations in which the coalition consists of more than 80 MKs.“We have all seen situations in politics in which the wheel turned, and the ruling party found itself small, divided and in the opposition,” the Knesset speaker pointed out.Elkin said the coalition would accept some of the demands, but not others, and would continue discussing the matter with Herzog next week.
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