Deri and Lieberman oppose increasing number of ministers
Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu leaders object to Likud plans to cancel law limiting next government to 18 ministers, ahead of coalition negotiations.
Shas chairman Aryeh Deri and Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman objected on Thursday to plans by the Likud party to cancel a law limiting the next government to 18 ministers, ahead of coalition negotiations set to begin on Sunday.
The Shas leader explained today that increasing the number of ministers "would not be fair to the weaker sections." Yisrael Beiteinu clarified that it opposed to modifying the coalition agreement signed between the party and Yesh Atid during negotiations after the previous elections, limiting the number of ministers to eighteen.
This opposition will leave Netanyahu with a limited number of portfolios and a large list of demands from his Likud party and other factions.
Increasing the number of ministers could give Netanyahu political maneuvering room in the assembly of the coalition and the maintenance of its stability.
Earlier Thursday, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid also vowed to fight the Likud move to cancel the law.
"We must not expand the government to over 18 ministers. This is your money, these are hundreds of millions of shekels who could go to daycares and to lowering prices," Lapid wrote on Facebook, noting Netanyahu and his entire party voted in favor of that law.
"This is corruption and we'll fight against it in the Knesset and, if necessary, at the Supreme Court as well," he added.
Earlier Thursday, reports emerged that the Likud party, the big winner of the 2015 Israeli elections, was planning to cancel the law limiting the number of ministers, even as party members already started vying for ministries.
After winning a solid victory in the 2015 elections, Netanyahu can form his government with almost no obstacles standing in his way. The re-elected prime minister has already announced he was seeking to form a right-wing government with his natural partners in the national camp, rather than a unity government with the Zionist Union.
The makeup of Netanyahu's coalition is expected to look as such: Likud with 30 seats, Kulanu with 10, Bayit Yehudi with 8, Shas with 7, United Torah Judaism with 6 and Yisrael Beytenu with 6 seats – a total of 67 MKs.
