Leaders of Israel's change bloc agreed on Sunday that every faction in the Knesset, including the Joint List and Ra'am, will receive a deputy speaker post. The deal comes ahead of a vote set for Tuesday on replacing Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana with MK Matan Kahana.
According to Srugim, the bloc's parties reached broad agreement on the makeup of the 26th Knesset's Presidium. The arrangement would restore Arab party representation in these roles. In the 25th Knesset, neither Hadash-Ta'al nor Ra'am held a deputy speaker post.
The position carries real weight in running the parliamentary agenda. Deputy speakers sit with the speaker on the Knesset Presidium, which has the authority to approve the tabling of private member's bills and to place urgent motions on the agenda. Deputy speakers also chair plenary sessions when the speaker is absent. The move would bring the Arab factions into one of the Knesset's central decision-making forums.
The understandings on deputy speakers add to a division of senior Knesset posts that change bloc leaders had already settled. Besides Kahana's candidacy for speaker, they agreed that Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman will chair the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and that Liran Avishar Ben Horin will chair the Finance Committee.
The vote to remove Ohana and elect his replacement will take place on Tuesday, November 17, at 4 p.m. It follows a demand to convene the plenum for that purpose, signed by 67 Knesset members.
