1.

The Speaker and the Deputy Speakers, whose number shall be determined by the Knesset,¹ shall be elected by the Knesset in open elections.²

Restriction to election (amendment No. 63 & 86)

1a.

(a)

The House Committee is entitled to decide that a Member of the Knesset, against whom the Attorney General has placed a copy of an indictment, as stated in article 4(a) of the Knesset Members’ Immunity, Rights and Duties Law, 5711-1951(heretofore - The Immunity Law), shall not be a candidate for the post of Speaker, or Deputy Speaker,and this whether or not it was decided that he shall have immunity from criminal proceedings; Should the House Committee decide that the Knesset Member shall not be a candidate as stated in this clause, its decision shall remain in force as long as the criminal proceedings in his matter have not come to an end, and if it should be decided that he should have immunity against criminal proceedings - for the whole period of his membership in that Knesset, or for a shorter period determined by the Committee.

(b)

A Member of the Knesset who has been convicted, whether while he was a Member or beforehand, in a final verdict on a criminal offence, and the House Committee decided that the offence carries with it disgrace, and ten years have not yet elapsed since he completed his sentence, shall not be a candidate for the post of Speaker or Deputy Speaker.

(c)

The House Committee is entitled to decide that a Member of the Knesset, who has been convicted in a final verdict for a criminal offence, whether while he was a Member or beforehand, was sentenced to an actual prison sentence, and five years have not yet elapsed since he completed his sentence, shall not be a candidate for the post of Speaker or Deputy Speaker.

(d)

The House Committee shall not take a decision, in accordance with paragraphs (a) to (c), until after it has given the Knesset Member concerned a chance to say his word.

(e)

Article 101a shall apply to the deliberation in the Committee.

(f)

The deliberation proceedings in the Committee shall end within a week.

(g)

Should the House Committee decide that the Knesset Member shall not be a candidate as stated, the Member is entitled to appeal the decision before the Knesset, within 48 hours; The debate in the Knesset shall take place within 48 hours of the appeal being submitted; The appellant shall explain his appeal, and the Chairman of the House Committee, or whoever has been authorized for this purpose, shall reply to the appeal, each one of them within a time limit of no more than 15 minutes; After hearing the sides, the Knesset shall take a vote, without further debate.

(h)

The voting in the House Committee and the Knesset shall be open.

(i)

The Knesset Member is entitled to ask that the deliberation in his matter shall take place in the Ethics Committee, should it have been set up; Should the Member make such a request, the rules customary in the Ethics Committee shall apply to it, and the provisions of paragraph (g) shall not apply to it; The Ethics Committee shall lay its explained decision on the Knesset table.

(j)

In the event that the House Committee has not yet been set up, the authority vested in it shall be vested in the Arrangements Committee.

Who shall not be elected

2.

A member of the Government, or a Deputy Minister, shall not be Speaker or Deputy Speaker.

Term of office (amendment

3.

(a)

The Speaker and the Deputy Speakers shall be elected for the Knesset’s full term.

 

(b)

Should the office of the Speaker, or of one of the Deputy Speakers

fall vacant, the Knesset shall elect a replacement for him.

Suspension from office due to offence (amendment No. 63 & 86)

3a.

(a)

Once the Attorney General has deposited a copy of the indictment, as stated in article 4(a) of the Immunity Law, against the Speaker or a Deputy Speaker, or should criminal proceedings, in the sense of the Knesset Law, be held against one of them, the House Committee shall decide whether to propose to the Knesset to suspend the position holder from his office, or set limitations to it, and this whether or not it was decided that he should have  immunity from criminal proceedings .

(b)

The instructions of article 101a shall apply to the deliberation in the House Committee.

(c)

Should the Speaker be suspended from his office, he shall be replaced by a Deputy Speaker, as stated in article 20a of Basic Law: the Knesset.

(d)

Should a final verdict be given in the trial of the position holder, and the court has found the Knesset Member not guilty, or it has not decided that the offence carries with it disgrace, the suspension shall be ended, or the limitations to his office shall be canceled, as the case may be.

Removal from office due to offence (amendment No. 63)

3b.

(a)

Should the position holder be convicted in a final verdict of a criminal offence, in the course of the term of that Knesset, and the court has determined that the offence carries with it disgrace, the House Committee shall decide whether to propose to the Knesset to remove him from his office.

(b)

The provisions of article 101a shall apply to the deliberation in the House Committee.

Removal from office, not due to offence (amendment No. 63)

3c.

Should the House Committee receive a complaint against a position holder under the provisions of article 8 of the Knesset Law, the provisions of article 101a shall apply to the deliberation in the House Committee

(amendments Nos. 18 , 24 & 69)

4.

Canceled

Duties of the Speaker

5.

The Speaker shall run the affairs of the Knesset, represent it externally, uphold its dignity, the decorum of its sittings and the observance of its Rules of Procedure; He shall preside over the sittings of the Knesset,³ and run them, put questions to the vote, and determine its results, as well as the results of all elections that take place in the Knesset.

Duties of the Deputy Speakers

6.

(a)

Should the Speaker be absent from a sitting of the Knesset, one of the Deputy Speakers shall act in his place.⁴

(b)

The Speaker is entitled, from time to time, to hand over the running of a Knesset sitting, or any other of his duties, to one of the Deputy Speakers.

(c)

A Deputy Speaker, while he is running a sitting of the Knesset, or performing any other duty of the Speaker, shall have all the duties and powers, which are vested in the Speaker in that situation.

Committee membership

7.

The Speaker shall not be a member of any of the Knesset committees, except the Interpretations Committee.

Participation in committees

8.

The Speaker and the Deputy Speakers are entitled to participate in the deliberations of the House Committee; The Speaker is entitled to participate in the deliberations of any of the Knesset committees.

¹ Article 10 of the Knesset Law, 1994, lays down that as of the sixteenth Knesset the number of the Deputy Speakers will not

exceed seven (Amendment No. 7, of 7.4.2000)

² According to custom and practice, the Arrangements Committee or the House Committee tables the proposal for the approval of the

Knesset.

³ The opinion of the Committee is that it is not desirable that the Speaker, while acting as President, should run sittings of the

Knesset. (Resolution of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee - 25.12.1963)

⁴ Compare articles 29 and 30(a) to the Knesset Building and its Compound Law, 1968.