Yacimovich wants to limit PMs to two terms in a row

Army Radio: Labor chief gauging level of support for law that would bar sitting premier from serving more than 2 consecutive terms.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Shelly Yacimovich at Labor Central Committee 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Shelly Yacimovich at Labor Central Committee 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Opposition leader Shelly Yacimovich is working on legislation that would prevent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from running in the next general election, sources in Labor revealed on Tuesday.
Army Radio Knesset correspondent Sefi Ovadia reported exclusively Tuesday morning that Yacimovich had consulted with politicians in other parties in order to determine whether she could obtain a majority for a bill that would limit prime ministers to two consecutive terms.
Sources in Labor said Yacimovich had not decided yet whether to submit the bill.
Passing the bill could require support from MKs in the coalition.
It is possible that Likud ministers who want to replace Netanyahu or MKs in the parties of future prime ministerial candidates Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett could find excuses to absent themselves from such a vote in order to enable it to pass.
Yacimovich declined to comment about the bill and top MKs in her party said they were not aware that she was working on such legislation behind the scenes. Netanyahu’s associates called the proposal undemocratic and said the people of Israel must be permitted to pick the prime minister they want.
“The proposal is intended to prevent the public’s will from being implemented,” a Netanyahu associate said. “We are not worried because legal authorities would not let it pass.”
A Labor source suggested that Likud MKs who are angry with Netanyahu for personal reasons had persuaded Yacimovich to draft the bill.