There had been some discussion a while back about passing a new law to allow the Chief Rabbis to serve more than one term. That discussion fell off the table, as always, due to politics (the same way it was initially put on the table). However, with the elections called for earlier than originally scheduled, a different variation of that law became necessary.
With elections pushed up, the term of the current Chief Rabbis was going to conclude a very short time after the elections. That would make it very difficult to select new candidates and elect them properly, as from the time the new Knesset would convene and appoint representatives to the committee responsible for electing the Chief Rabbis, there would not be enough time to do this properly.
So, this week, due to the "urgency" of the matter, MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu) convened the committee in a special session to pass the proposal, so that it could go to a special session of the Knesset on the same day (because the Knesset is officially not working right now due to having been dismissed for elections). The proposal passed unanimously in the committee, and then passed its final readings in the Knesset. This happened despite some criticism as to how the meeting of the committee had been called improperly.
(sources: Kikar and Haaretz)
So, Chief Rabbis Amar and Metzger will hold on to their positions for an extra 3 months. Let's hope this opportunity is seized and used well.
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