Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin suggested that the upcoming election may be postponed in light of the Gaza conflict.
"If Operation Pillar of Defense continues, and will force us to postpone the primaries in the Likud and Labor, which are planned for next week, there will be no escaping pushing off the election for the 19th Knesset, which was set for January 22nd," Rivlin told Yisrael Hayom.
The Likud primary is planned for next November 25, and Labor's will be next November 29, unless they are postponed because of the military operation.
The Knesset Speaker said a decision about pushing off primaries must be made by this Thursday.
Parties are required to submit their lists for the next Knesset by December 6.
Likud and Labor use the same company to digitize their primaries, and as such, they must be held at least four days apart. Therefore, in order to keep the Knesset election on January 22, the Likud primary can be held no later than November 30 so Labor can have theirs on December 5, as December 1 is a Saturday.
If the general election is postponed, Rivlin said he would call a special Knesset vote during the recess to choose a new date.
The only time an election was postponed was in 1973, during the Yom Kippur War. The vote was held two months later, on December 31, 1973.