The Knesset
The Knesset . (photo credit:REUTERS)

 

The Knesset Thursday morning passed the controversial Norwegian Law by a vote of 64-51, which allows a minister or deputy minister from each coalition party to quit the Knesset and return if they leave the cabinet.

The Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee passed it late Tuesday, enabling the bill’s legislation to be finalized before the Knesset begins its extended summer recess at the conclusion of Thursday morning’s Knesset session.

The bill was initially supposed to apply to factions of 12 or fewer members. But an amendment passed unanimously in the committee on Tuesday that would allow three ministers in Likud to quit the Knesset and return if they leave the cabinet.

As a result, the next three candidates on the Likud list would be able to enter the Knesset: Canadian-born, Australian-educated Sharren Haskel, gay activist Amir Ohana, and Temple Mount activist Yehudah Glick, who was born in the United States. The amendment was supported by left-wing MKs, including Michal Rozin of Meretz and Yael German from Yesh Atid, who wanted to embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposed the amendment. Ohana was present in the meeting and encouraged Likud MKs to vote in favor of the amendment.

Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett was quoted saying in closed conversations that he would resign from the parliament in favor of the next name on the Bayit Yehudi list, former MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli. Shas leader Arye Deri has publicly committed to quit the Knesset in favor of the next name on his list, former MK Avraham Michaeli, if the bill passes.

In United Torah Judaism, former MK Ya’acov Asher would return. In Kulanu, former Kadima MK Akram Hasson, who is a Druse, would enter the Knesset.

The “Norwegian Law,” based on the model of the Scandinavian country’s government, requires each minister to be replaced in the legislature by a candidate from his or her party’s bal – lot. If the minister is fired or resigns, he or she would reclaim a place in the Knesset and the substitute would no longer be a lawmaker.

The bill is meant to increase separation of powers, changing the current situation in which about a third of MKs cannot fully function as parliamentarians, because they are ministers or deputy ministers, and a central part of a lawmaker’s job is to oversee the executive branch of government.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post