High Court prelim hearing on indicted PM forming government

Whether a lawmaker under criminal indictment is competent to form a government is the subject of a preliminary hearing by a three-judge High Court panel underway in Jerusalem on Tuesday. The question, raised in a petition to the court, applies to Likud leader caretaker prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in light of the potential outcome of the March 3 general election. Netanyahu, who has been charged in three criminal cases challenges the court’s jurisdiction in the matter, maintaining that the rule of democracy mandates that the people and no other authority is competent to elect government leaders.