Yariv Levin
Yariv LevinShmulik Grossman, Knesset spokesperson

Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin announced on Friday that he would bring Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid’s statement that he can form a government before the Knesset on Monday.

“After the announcement from the Speaker of the Knesset to the plenum, and in accordance with the timeframe laid out in the Basic Law of Government, the Speaker will set a date for the debate and vote on establishing the government,” Levin said in a statement.

The law says that a vote must come within seven days of the announcement, leaving Monday June 14 as the most likely date for the vote.

On Wednesday, Lapid informed President Reuven Rivlin that he has been able to form a government.

Lapid spoke to the president on the phone and informed him that the government will comprise Yesh Atid, Blue and White, Yamina, Labor, Yisrael Beytenu, New Hope, Meretz and Ra’am.

Yamina chairman Naftali Bennett will be Prime Minister and Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid will be Alternate Prime Minister.

After approximately two years there will be a changeover, after which Lapid will become Prime Minister and Bennett will become Alternate Prime Minister.

Levin’s announcement comes a day after the parties in the so-called “government of change” submitted a demand to the Knesset secretariat that an election for a new Knesset Speaker be placed on the Knesset’s agenda for its coming session. Their petition also noted that, “MK Mickey Levy is the preferred candidate of the parties.”

61 signatures were appended to the petition, but MK Nir Orbach (Yamina) subsequently announced that he does not support the replacement of Levin and is withdrawing his signature from the list of Yamina MKs which was submitted to the Knesset.

With the withdrawal of Orbach’s signature, only 60 remained, quashing the move.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)