Israeli parliament may hold trust vote for new Govt on June 14

Tel Aviv: The Israeli parliament Knesset will reportedly hold a confidential vote on June 14 to approve the newly formed alliance led by opposition leader Yair Lapid to unseat incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Parliament Speaker Yariv Levin, a close associate of Netanyahu, refused to set a specific date for the vote, Xinhua News Agency reported.

However, he made a formal announcement to the parliament on Monday that opposition leader Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, had informed the President of a coalition deal.

"An announcement regarding a date for the session to establish the 36th government will be conveyed down the line to MPs," the Speaker said.

Last week, Lapid had announced that he reached a deal to form a coalition with nationalist Naftali Bennett, leader of Yamina, a pro-settler party, and six other small parties, including Ra'am, the first Arab party to be part of a coalition in Israel.

However, the coalition has only a slim majority of 61 out of the 120 seats in the Knesset. In the first non-Netanyahu government in 12 years, Bennett will initially become premier to be replaced by Lapid for the next two years. However, a simple majority of the 120 legislators must vote for the coalition.