Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, will reconvene Monday (Oct. 15) for the start of the fall session, where it is expected to vote immediately to dissolve itself. The move will set Israel on a path to elections scheduled for January 22, 2013 – some four years after the last ballot. In that last election the Kadima party won the most seats, but because of the distribution of votes for other parties, it was Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu who was chosen by Israeli President Shimon Peres as the most likely to succeed in forming a new coalition. Opinion polls published in Israel last week suggest that the Likud party will win the next election outright, and that Netanyahu will be able to form the next government with only small changes to his coalition. Electoral intrigue inside Israel is already proceeding apace, with popular Likud cabinet minister Moshe Kahlon announcing yesterday his surprise resignation from politics. The decision has ignited a rumor mill of guessing, as Kahlon was immensely popular in his party and with the general voting public.

[Photo: Pikiwikisrael / WikiCommons]