Israel: Knesset agrees to postpone local elections until 27 February

The Israeli parliament, known as the Knesset, agreed yesterday to postpone local elections to 27 February. The Knesset Interior Committee ratified the decision taken by the Israeli government in its weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

The postponement was approved by a majority of 15 Knesset members, with two abstaining. The decision was made based on information from the army about the inability to release candidates from their service in the reserve forces fighting in Gaza. Around 700 candidates would have been affected by such a move.

In October, the Interior Ministry submitted a memorandum to postpone the local authority elections which were scheduled to be held at the end of that month, for a period of three months. The Knesset gave initial approval to postpone them until 30 January. This has now been put back a month.

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