How do elections work in israel

Election campaigns are a lively affair, accompanied by vigorous debate of the issues. Israelis take a great interest in political affairs, including internal policy and foreign relations, and actively participate in the electoral process. Knesset elections are based on a vote for a party rather than for individuals, and the many political parties which compete for election to the Knesset reflect a wide range of outlooks and beliefs.

The direct election of the prime minister, instituted in Israel in , was abolished under the revised Basic Law: The Government and the the task of forming a government and heading it as prime minister was assigned by the president to the Knesset member considered to have the best chance of forming a viable coalition government in light of the Knesset election results.

Every citizen aged 21 or older is eligible for election to the Knesset, provided they have no criminal record, do not hold an official position the president, state comptroller, judges and senior public officials, as well as the chief-of-staff and high-ranking military officers, may not stand for election to the Knesset unless they have resigned their position at least days before the elections , and the court has not specifically restricted this right for example, in the rare case of a person convicted of treason.

Only parties which have been legally registered with the Party Register, or an alignment of two or more registered parties, can present a list of candidates and participate in the elections. Prior to the elections, each party presents its platform, and the list of candidates for the Knesset, in order of precedence.

The parties select their candidates for the Knesset in primaries or by other procedures. Knesset seats are assigned in proportion to each party's percentage of the total national vote.

A party's surplus votes, which are insufficient for an additional seat, are redistributed among the various parties according to their proportional size resulting from the elections, or as agreed between parties prior to the election.

The number and order of members entering the new Knesset for each party corresponds to its list of candidates as presented for election. There are no by-elections in Israel. According to the Party Financing Law , a treasury allocation for election campaigns is granted to each faction at the rate of one pre-defined "financing unit" per seat won in the previous Knesset elections plus one unit per mandate won in the current Knesset elections, divided by two, plus one additional financing unit.

New factions receive a similar allocation, retroactively, based on the number of seats won in the elections. No faction may receive a contribution, directly or indirectly, from any person or his dependents in excess of the sum established by law and linked to the Consumer Price Index.

A faction or list of candidates may not receive a financial contribution from someone who is not eligible to vote in the elections. The Central Elections Committee , headed by a justice of the Supreme Court and including representatives of the parties holding seats in the Knesset, is responsible for conducting and supervising the elections. Regional election committees oversee the functioning of local polling committees, which include representatives of at least three parties in the outgoing Knesset.

Anyone aged 16 or older is eligible to serve on a polling committee. According to the Basic Law: The Knesset , the Central Elections Committee may prevent a candidates' list from participating in elections if its objectives or actions, expressly or by implication, include one of the following:.

With the passing of the Governance bill on March 11, , new policies were in place for the first time during the election, the most significant of which was the raising of the electoral threshold from 2 percent to 3. Election to the Knesset is by proportional representation, and there are no districts—the entire country is one district. Knesset elections must be conducted at least once every four years. Each political party presents the public with a list of candidates for Knesset membership, and the number of individuals from that list who get to serve in the Knesset depends on the proportion of votes cast for the party; any party with 2 percent of the total vote gets at least two seats in the Knesset.

The executive branch is not elected directly. It instead arises out of the Knesset, in a sense. After elections for the Knesset have been conducted, the president of the State of Israel will approach the leader of one of the parties—generally the party that has received the greatest number of votes—and entrust him or her the task of forming a government.

The leader of the government, who chairs its meetings and guides its guidelines and agendas, is the prime minister. However, in order to take office as prime minister at the head of a new government, the person tapped for the job by the president must persuade a majority of the Knesset members MKs to confirm the government. This usually involves putting together a coalition of several parties. The prime minister-elect will typically spend a number of weeks conducting intense negotiations with the other parties elected to the Knesset, arranging for their support in a confirmation vote.

In exchange for joining the coalition, parties will demand that they get to have some of their MKs serve in the government as ministers, so that Israeli governments are generally staffed by MKs from a range of parties who must find a way to work together despite their disparate views.

Those parties left out of the coalition form the opposition. When a government falls, the president may approach any member of Knesset—even the just-deposed prime minister—and ask him or her to try to form a new government that will enjoy majority support in the Knesset. Another possibility is that new early elections may be called for the Knesset.

To take an example: Prior to each national election, the Labor Party will select in internal primaries a list of Knesset candidates. When they do this, the parties might make an agreement to deal with extra surplus votes so that the party with the greater number of surplus votes can take the extra seat they earned combined.

After voting, each party or electoral alliance that passed the electoral threshold is assigned a number of seats out of total of seats depending on what proportion of the vote they received.

When the election is over the sears have been distributed, the President steps in to select a Knesset member who is most likely to be able to form a stable government. This is a major role for the President, who in Israel mainly serves a ceremonial role and has few executive powers. Once the Knesset member is selected by the President, he or she has 42 days to hold coalition negotiations. The coalition is then presented to the Knesset, which must confirm it by a vote of confidence of at least 61 members simple majority.

If the Knesset approves, the person who formed the government becomes Prime Minister. Like in many other countries, coalition governments can be pretty unstable.

However, in Israel, members can leave and other parties can be recruited to rejoin, so long as the coalition always has at least 61 members.

You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Skip to content Israeli voters head to the polls on Monday, March 2nd for the third time in less than a year.

Who is eligible to vote?