Israel to hold early election in April – PM’s spokesman

Israel will hold a general election in April, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Twitter on Monday. The statement came after a meeting between members of the governing coalition. “The leaders of the coalition decided unanimously to dissolve parliament and go to a new election in early April,” the spokesman said, quoting from a statement issued by Netanyahu’s political partners. A coalition crisis over a military conscription bill affecting exemptions from compulsory service for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men led to the decision, Reuters reported. Netanyahu, who heads the right-wing Likud party, is in his fourth term as prime minister. He has been governing with a majority of 61 seats in the 120-member parliament. A national election must be held by November 2019.