The Israeli parliament formally voted to disperse itself in a unanimous vote of 91 to 0 on Wednesday night.
The Knesset plenum approved the bill – which initiates an unprecedented third round of national elections to be held on March 2, 2020 — in its first reading before 11 pm.
The bill still had to pass through several more hoops before midnight in order to become law.
But even if it did not, and if no Knesset member reached a 61-member majority to form a coalition government by midnight, the Knesset nevertheless would be dissolved automatically – and elections instead would be held March 10.
The only problem with that scenario is that this year, the Jewish holiday of Purim falls on March 10 as well, complicating matters considerably for the Jewish majority in the country.
It’s a real cliff-hanger . . . Well, not really. If at first you don’t succeed, you return to the polls. And then repeat.