The Knesset, Israel’s 120-member parliament, is set to elect the next President of the State who will succeed 90-year old Shimon Peres on June 10, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein announced.
The presidency in Israel is a largely ceremonial and constitutional role as the president is not meant to play an active part in everyday 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 post of president of Israel is important, and it is aimed at healing rifts in the nation.This hasn't been the kind of campaign we wanted to see," Edelstein said in a reference to raising eyebrows among political pundits.
At least five candidates are expected to vie for the position.
Reuven Rivlin, 74, a former Speaker of Parliament who formally entered the race on Monday, has a reputation for political independence in the Likud. An opinion poll last week named him as a front-runner.
A veteran Likud MK, Rivlin was first elected to the Knesset in 1988. 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.
His relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have deteriorated significantly, with Netanyahu vehemently opposing his candidacy.
In a letter to fellow members of the Knesset, Rivlin stressed "the importance of a president as a builder of bridges between parties in dispute".
"If the Knesset is the home of debate, controversy and decision, President's House is the home of cooperation, dialogue and compromise," he wrote.
By law, the Knesset Speaker has to announce the date at least three weeks before the race. Candidates need to announce their candidacy and submit the signatures of 10 MKs who support them two weeks before the race. MKs can sign for only one candidate.
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.
Others who have voiced interest in standing as president include former Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who appears to be the leading opposition candidate, former Finance Minister Meir Sheetrit and Nobel chemistry prize laureate Dan Shechtman.
Other possible candidates include former Soviet dissident and righjts campaigner Natan Sharansky, currently the head of the Jewish Agency and who held a range of ministerial positions including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Internal Affairs.
Shimon Peres, Israel's most respected statesman, has been president since 2007. He took over from Moshe Katsav, who was convicted of rape in 2010 and is serving a seven-year prison term.