The Implications of the Direct Elections in Israel

Authors : Yüksel Sezgin

Pages : 68-105

Doi:10.1501/Intrel_0000000018

View : 15 | Download : 9

Publication Date : 2000-05-01

Article Type : Research

Abstract :Like many immature and fledgling democracies Israel has suffered from the same disease, vvhich causes instability, inefficiency, maladministration, corruption, bribery, extortion and anarchy. However, unlike other countries, Israel has invented its own medication to cure the ills of its democratic system. This unprecedented "magic remedy" provided Israel with the distinetion of being the first dcmocracy to a have direct eleetion for its prime minister. This study is dedicated to the examination of this "untested remedy" and its side effects. As the paper shows, the direct elections have totally altered the form of government, party system, electoral campaigns, and the voting behaviours in the Jewish State. By allovving the split-ticket voting i.e. the separate voting for prime minister and Knesset , the new system has contributed to the further fragmentation of Israeli party system, strengthening the ethno-sectarian and single-issue parties at the expense of larger and ideological ones. In addition, vvhile it has modified the traditional inter and intra-party politics and traditional coalition formation procedures, it also starkly exposed the absence of checks and balances vvithin the system.
Keywords : Israel, Israeli Politics, Knesset, Likud, Labour, Ethno-sectarianism, Eleetion Systems, Electoral Behaviour.