Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the country’s parliament to grant him immunity from prosecution in several corruption cases.
Netanyahu was indicted in November on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. He has denied any wrongdoing.
He tried to downplay the request in a televised statement on New Year’s Day, calling for a “temporary” measure that would grant him immunity for only one term of parliament, according to the New York Times. Netanyahu claimed the potential immunity was meant to prevent “political indictments whose purpose is to distort the will of the people.”
“That’s what happened to me,” he said.
Netanyahu, the longest-serving Israeli prime minister, is seeking a fourth term in an election scheduled for March 2. It will be the country’s third election in a year after the earlier elections, in April and September, failed to give Netanyahu or his opponent, Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White party, a majority to form a viable government.
In the past, Netanyahu, 70, signaled that he would not seek immunity but later declared immunity was a “foundation stone of democracy,” as the deadline for such a request loomed.
As he fights for his political future, the prime minister declared victory earlier this week as members of his conservative Likud party voted to keep him as their leader.
