Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar this evening (Tuesday) published the memorandum of law amending the Basic Law of Government, and preventing the imposition of the role of forming a government on a criminal defendant.
Under the proposal, a Knesset member who is under indictment would not be eligible to form a government if he was charged with an offense punishable by more than three years in prison.
However, the chairman of the Central Election Commission will be able to allow the imposition of the mandate on that Knesset member if he determines that under the specific circumstances of the case the offense is not overly disgraceful.
Therefore, an MK who is indicted for an offense punishable by three years or more in prison, and with which he is considered disgraced - will not be able to accept the job of forming a government from the president, and will not be included in a proposal to trust a new government.
The law will only apply from the 25th Knesset and onward. The details of the memorandum were compiled following a series of discussions that have taken place in recent weeks at the Justice Ministry. The memorandum was distributed for 21 days for public comment.
Minister Sa'ar said: "It is our duty to establish better regime arrangements for the future, which fortify Israel's values as a Jewish and democratic state. We have a duty to prevent the recurrence of the situation that the State of Israel experienced until recently. "
The Likud party said in response: "Gideon Sa'ar, who is scratching the bottom of the electoral threshold in all polls, proposes an Iranian-style anti-democratic law that seeks to disqualify those who receive 35 seats in polls and has the support of millions of citizens as their prime ministerial representative."