Israel Election and Electoral System

[Andrewn]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s fourth election in two years has produced yet another stalemate, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor those seeking to topple him reaching a majority in parliament. A final vote tally gives neither the government nor the opposition a clear path to victory, setting up weeks of coalition negotiations and possibly a fifth election.

Explainer: How Israel voted and who matters now

Israel is a small country, the size of Vermont, with a population < 9 million. Nevertheless, in its most recent election, 13 different parties won seats in the 120 seat Knesset (House of Representatives) with none winning a majority!

This endemic problem in Israel is most likely attributable to its Party-list proportional representation (PR) electoral system.

I'm not a fan of the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system in the US, Canada, and the UK as it tends to promote 2 major parties.

But the electoral system of Israel is much worse as it promotes tiny parties that represent small factions of the society.

 

[tz620q]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s fourth election in two years has produced yet another stalemate, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor those seeking to topple him reaching a majority in parliament. A final vote tally gives neither the government nor the opposition a clear path to victory, setting up weeks of coalition negotiations and possibly a fifth election.

Explainer: How Israel voted and who matters now

Israel is a small country, the size of Vermont, with a population < 9 million. Nevertheless, in its most recent election, 13 different parties won seats in the 120 seat Knesset (House of Representatives) with none winning a majority!

This endemic problem in Israel is most likely attributable to its Party-list proportional representation (PR) electoral system.

I'm not a fan of the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system in the US, Canada, and the UK. But the electoral system of Israel is much worse.

I was in Argentina in 2003 shortly after the economic collapse in 2001. They were having their presidential election and the two top candidates were Menem, who had been president before under the Peronistas and Kirchner, a newcomer. There were many candidates and a candidate had to get over 50% of the vote to win. The vote was split with Menem getting around 25% of the vote and Kirchner 17%. This forced a ballotage revote between the two top candidates. Before the ballotage, Menem dropped out; because nearly all of the other candidates had thrown their support behind Kirchner. I was surprised though that Israel requires 60% support. That is a high bar.

 

[Andrewn]

I was surprised though that Israel requires 60% support. That is a high bar.

Israel has a parliamentary system of government. Their parliament (House of Representatives) consists of 120 representatives. The Prime Minister needs to get > 50% of the representatives to win. In the case of Israel, this happens to be > 60 representatives (not > 60%).

 

[tz620q]

Israel has a parliamentary system of government. Their parliament (House of Representatives) consists of 120 representatives. The Prime Minister needs to get > 50% of the representatives to win. In the case of Israel, this happens to be > 60 representatives (not > 60%).

Ahh, thank you for the clarification.

 

[Arcangl86]

I don't think it's PV that's the issue here, but rather how low a threshold they have to be elected to the Kessnet. Most countries that use the same electoral system have the threshold set at 5%, which might help here.

 

[Andrewn]

I don't think it's PV that's the issue here, but rather how low a threshold they have to be elected to the Kessnet. Most countries that use the same electoral system have the threshold set at 5%, which might help here.

In a 120 seat parliament, a 5% cutoff would be 6 seats. This would eliminate only one of the 13 parties represented leaving the other 12 to fight.

Just imagine, in a country the size of the USA, if this system is used we could have 100's of represented parties!

 

[Joyous Song]

I

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s fourth election in two years has produced yet another stalemate, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor those seeking to topple him reaching a majority in parliament. A final vote tally gives neither the government nor the opposition a clear path to victory, setting up weeks of coalition negotiations and possibly a fifth election.

Explainer: How Israel voted and who matters now

Israel is a small country, the size of Vermont, with a population < 9 million. Nevertheless, in its most recent election, 13 different parties won seats in the 120 seat Knesset (House of Representatives) with none winning a majority!

This endemic problem in Israel is most likely attributable to its Party-list proportional representation (PR) electoral system.

I'm not a fan of the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system in the US, Canada, and the UK as it tends to promote 2 major parties.

But the electoral system of Israel is much worse as it promotes tiny parties that represent small factions of the society.

JS: I like to see a three or four party system: Democrats, Republicans, Trumpcates, and Liberals

 

[Andrewn]

JS: I like to see a three or four party system: Democrats, Republicans, Trumpcates, and Liberals

Different electoral systems could promote that kind for situation. For example, the Two-round system (TRW) we saw in Georgia's senate runoff last January.

A voter might opt to cast their vote for a 3rd party candidate who has no chance of winning in the 1st round, if the candidate has a chance to win in the 2nd round.

Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is used in Alaska and Maine.

 

[Arcangl86]

In a 120 seat parliament, a 5% cutoff would be 6 seats. This would eliminate only one of the 13 parties represented leaving the other 12 to fight.

Just imagine, in a country the size of the USA, if this system is used we could have 100's of represented parties!

Not what I meant. There is a threshold they need to meet in the election. Any party with less then 2.5% currently of the national vote is denied a seat in the Kissnet. Raising that to 5% would have eliminated 12 seats.

 

[Pommer]

Not what I meant. There is a threshold they need to meet in the election. Any party with less then 2.5% currently of the national vote is denied a seat in the Kissnet. Raising that to 5% would have eliminated 12 seats.

The seats are set at 120, raising the percentage would just mean that those seats would have been filled by parties with over 5% of the National vote.
(Or am I mistaken?)

 

[Arcangl86]

The seats are set at 120, raising the percentage would just mean that those seats would have been filled by parties with over 5% of the National vote.
(Or am I mistaken?)

Yes exactly. That keep really small parties from being elected which can create unstable parliaments like the last few years.