Kahlon: Expect Elections at Beginning of 2019

Elections will likely take place at the beginning of 2019, not in November of that year as currently scheduled, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said in an interview Motzoei Shabbos. With that, he stressed that the elections would be “based on the joint decision of all members of the coalition, as opposed to the last time there were elections, when we got to that point after internal disputes.”

Kahlon is comfortable with the idea of elections some nine months from now, and he believes that by that time, his party will do better in the polls. Recent polls show the party getting no more than six seats if elections were held now, fewer than the 10 the party now has. “The polls that we have now have not taken into consideration all of our accomplishments,” such as the Finance Minister’s claims that housing prices have fallen. “I am positive and proud of our accomplishments.”

Kahlon also has no problem continuing in a government similar to the one he is in now. “I am currently a member of a wonderful coalition and I would be happy to continue serving in it,” he said, while not explicitly ruling out joining a coalition led by other parties, like Zionist Camp.

Kahlon also said that while the situation on the Gaza border, which has experienced dozens of fires caused by Gaza terror balloons and kites, was “harmful, hurtful, and demeaning – my heart is with the farmers who are experiencing this” – Kahlon does not believe that an all-out war against Hamas is the answer. “There are a lot of people pushing us to war, but I as a cabinet member will not vote for a war because of the kite terror. Soldiers die in war, and that should be reserved for a situation where there really is no alternative. Right now we have alternatives. We don’t have to go to war over every hurtful or harmful act.”