MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) – Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has begun to vote on a new president to replace Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres, whose seven-year term is at an end.
Five candidates are vying for the post on Tuesday, and Israeli media have anointed as the favorite Reuven Rivlin, a right wing member of the Likud party and former speaker of the Knesset.
Rivlin’s key competitors are two left wing politicians: Dalia Itzik, the first female speaker of the Knesset, and Meir Sheetrit, acting Member of the Knesset (MK) from the Hatnuah party, who has headed seven ministries over the course of her career. The other two candidates are former Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner and Dan Shechtman, a Nobel laureate in chemistry.
In Israel, the president is elected by a secret ballot at the Knesset. To win, a candidate needs 61 votes from the 120 MKs. If no one garners the requisite number of votes, a second round is organized. The presidential term is seven years, but because Israel is a parliamentary republic, the presidency is mostly symbolic.
