Knesset to choose successor of Shimon Peres as State of Israel president

Edelstein said that in the past 24 hours, he has received numerous requests from Knesset members and jurists, who had various words of advice for him, including requests to postpone the election.

“The bad atmosphere that continues to envelope this race causes dissatisfaction from the process and casts a dark shadow on the contenders and the Knesset,” he added.

“The first citizen must also be the first in his honesty, his trustworthiness and his morality, and reach the post of president in the most honest and clean way,” Edelstein explained. “We must do everything within our power to ensure that this is the case.”

One of the top candidates, Binyamin Ben Eliezer, member of the Knesset from the Labour party, withdrew from the race on Saturday after police interrogated him on suspicion of receiving funds illegally.

Five candidates are still on the run to succeed Shimon Peres as President of the State of Israel. He will be elected by the 120 members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in a secret ballot.

The front-runner is former Knesset Speaker and Likud figure Reuven Rivlin, who is thought to have the support of the vast majority of both the Likud and Yisrael Beitenu factions, plus other assorted members of the Knesset.

But he will likely be short of the 61 votes needed for an outright victory and a second round of voting between the top two candidates will be most likely decisive.

Other candidates are former Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, Hatnuah’s former Finance Minister Meir Sheetrit, former Supreme Court Judge Dalia Dorner and Nobel Prize laureate Dan Shechtman.

Born in Jerusalem on 9 September 1939, Reuven Rivlin is a lawyer by profession and a veteran Likud Member of the Knesset. He was first elected to the parliament in 1988 and was Likud chairman from 1988 to 1993. He was Minister of Communications in 2001-2003 and served as Speaker of the Knesset from 2003-2006 and 2009-2013.

He stood against Shimon Peres in the 2007 presidential elections.

He is considered a staunch defender of Israeli democracy. Although he personally opposes the two state solution, he has said he would not intervene in the decisions of Israel’s elected politicians.

Dalia Itzik

Itzik was first elected with the Labour Party in 1992, joining Kadimain 2005.

She was Speaker of the Knesset from 2006 to 2009 and assumed presidential duties for six months, following the suspension and resignation of Moshe Katzav in 2007.

She has held several ministerial portfolios, including environment, communications and trade.

The presidency: A largely ceremonial and constitutional role

The presidency in Israel is a largely ceremonial and constitutional role. The president is not meant to play an active part in every day Israeli political affairs.

The Israeli president holds the constitutional duties of a head of state, including signing legislation into law, pardoning prisoners and nominating a politician to form the government.

The president serves a seven-year term and is limited to one term.

The president is elected by the 120 members of the Knesset. Any Israeli citizen is eligible to run.

In order to run, candidates must be endorsed by at least 10 members of the Knesset.

To be elected, the presidential candidate must receive the votes of a majority of the members of the Knesset (61 votes out of 120 MKs). If there is no majority in the first ballot, the candidate with the smallest amount of votes is eliminated and the vote is repeated.