The Israeli elections are coming up on January 22, and the
37 “lists” competing run the gamut from communist, pro-marijuana, pirate (yes,
pirate), and anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox to green, nationalistic, and
anti-Zionist Arab. Other than the fact
that they are both democratic and the fact that the voters complain about their
choices, there is little in common between the American presidential and the
Israeli parliamentary elections.
Although the media might focus on the personalities of those
at the head of a party, Israelis do not elect a prime minister. Each party assembles its “list” of
candidates. Because the number of seats
a party gets in the 120-member Knesset reflects the percentage of votes the
party receives out of the total votes cast, the higher one is on the list, the
more likely the candidate is to get a seat in the Knesset. A candidate’s place on the list is decided
either in a party primary, by a party committee, or by the leader of the
party. The fighting for position is
intense.
When an Israeli voter enters the voting booth, he or she
does not see a list of the candidates.
Usually the voter sees the name of the parties and the name of the
leader of each party. The voter votes
for the party. Unique among democracies,
Israel Israel
The leader of the party that receives the most votes does
not necessarily become the Prime Minister.
In recent years no party has received the 61 votes to rule on its own
and to decide who will be Prime Minister.
They have had to form coalitions.
For example, in the last election Kadima leader Tzipi Livni received one
more vote than Likud leader Bibi Netanyahu.
However, Netanyahu was able to put together a coalition with other
parties to form a majority of the Knesset and to become the Prime Minister.
Here is a rundown of the major parties contesting the
current election and the likely, but in no way certain, results:
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