By an overwhelming majority of 71 in favour and 23 against, Israel's parliament voted Wednesday to approve a national unity government deal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party reached with the centrist Kadima party, dpa reported.
Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz, who until the deal was reached Tuesday had been the official leader of the opposition, was sworn in as a minister without portfolio and vice prime minister.
As a result of the agreement, Netanyahu now heads a coalition of 94 legislators, Israel's largest since the mid-1980's.
Netanyahu and Mofaz reached the unity deal shortly after midnight Tuesday. Elections will now be held as originally planned in October 2013.
Wednesday's debate on the Netanyahu-Mofaz pact was suspended for around an hour, after two opposition lawmakers asked Netanyahu to clarify whether his deal with Mofaz contained any written secret agreements, or whether he and Mofaz had reached oral understandings which were not being disclosed to parliament, as required.
The debate was stormy and ill-tempered, with opposition speakers lambasting Mofaz for joining forces with a premier he had only recently called a "liar" and whose cabinet he had vowed not to sit in.
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