Attempts to find a legal way to cancel the September do-over election and re-instate the 21st Knesset have failed, and the election will be held as scheduled, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein announced Wednesday afternoon.
In an official statement, Edelstein explained: "In the past few days, I have been trying to advocate to cancel this needless election and save you, the citizens of Israel, billions. Unfortunately, not everyone cooperated, so we will be unable to cancel the election."
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
A week ago, Edelstein raised the possibility of canceling the do-over election. In a speech at the Herzliya Conference, the Knesset speaker said, "I think that if we can't implement my initiative [to cancel], we'll see exactly the same players sitting around the same table after Sept. 17, and they will need to the issues they are refusing to talk about right now."
"It would be better for our country and the public as a whole if we would sum things up right now and save three pointless months, and billions [of shekels]. At least I'll be able to look at myself in the mirror after Sept. 17 and know that I tried," Edelstein said.
"And who can guarantee that we won't have a third election?" he asked.
The center-Left Blue and White party refused to support the cancellation of the election, calling it "spin from Netanyahu."
"There's no way back," the party said.
According to an Israel Hayom-i24NEWS poll conducted last week, 62% of Israelis would support the election being canceled. The poll also found that 73% of the public favored Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forming a unity government with Blue and White and 27% opposed such a move.
