The Electoral System in Israel

The Knesset from the Israel Museum

The Israeli Electoral System

Israel has an electoral system based on nation-wide proportional representation, and the number of seats that each list receives in the Knesset – the House of Representatives – is proportional to the number of votes it received. The only limitation is the 2% qualifying threshold. In other words, a party must receive at least 2% of the votes in order to be elected. According to this system, the voters vote for a party list, and not for a particular person on the list. Since the institution of the primaries system in some of the parties, these parties directly elect their candidates for the Knesset. Some of the parties elect their candidates via the party’s institutions. In the ultra-religious parties their spiritual leaders appoint the candidates. The Knesset elections take place once every four years, but the Knesset or the Prime Minister can decide to hold early elections, and under certain circumstances can serve for more than four years.

The system is based on three laws:
• Basic Law: the Knesset ,1958
• The Knesset Elections Law (Combined Version) ,1969 – In Hebrew
• The Parties Law ,1992 – In Hebrew

As determined in the Basic Law: the Knesset, the Electoral System in Israel is general, nationwide, direct, equal, secret and proportional.

General Elections: Every citizen over the age of 18 has the right to vote in Knesset elections, with no differentiation as to religion, ethnic origin or sex, property, education or any other status. Every citizen over the age of 21 has the right to be elected to the Knesset.

Nationwide Elections: The State of Israel is a single electoral district and elections are held throughout the country on the same day and at the same time. The purpose of dividing the country up into polling stations in different districts is to enable an orderly and organized Election Day from an administrative point of view.

Equal Elections: Every citizen voting on Election Day has a single vote which is exactly equal to the vote of any other voter.

Direct Elections: The Israeli public votes directly for its representatives in the Knesset. Elected representatives are determined directly by the results of voting and not by an electoral body (as in other democratic countries around the world). Voting in Israel is for a list of candidates that includes no more than 120 names, a number equal to the number of Knesset seats.

Secret Elections: Voting in the polling booths takes place secretly – the voter enters a specially designated booth alone, selects the voting slip of his choice, places it in a sealed, opaque envelope and inserts the envelope into a ballot box, such that no-one can be aware of his vote.

Proportional Elections: Elections in Israel are proportional, i.e. the number of mandates allocated to each list of candidates is proportional to the number of votes it receives in the elections. For instance, a party which receives 20% of valid votes from voters will have 20% of Knesset mandates. A party is eligible to enter the Knesset on condition that it passes the qualifying threshold, which is currently 2% of valid votes.

The Right to Elect and Be Elected

All citizens of the State of Israel have an equal right to vote and be elected. This right is implemented in two ways:
a) every citizen has the right to vote for his preferred candidate on Election Day
b) every citizen has the right to establish a political party and receive funding from the State for election propaganda purposes.

Who is entitled to vote? 
Every Israeli citizen who is:
• Aged 18 or over
• Registered in the Voters’ Register
• Present in the country on Election Day.

Who is entitled to be elected to the Knesset? 
Any Israeli citizen who is:
• Over age 21
• Registered as a member of one of the political parties in the Party Register
• Not President of the State of Israel, the Chief Rabbi, an IDF career officer, judge, dayan (judge in the religious courts), or senior civil servant
• A citizen becomes a candidate only if his name is included in one of the lists of candidates for the Knesset and if he has given written authorization to that effect.

Who is not entitled to be elected to the Knesset?
• Anyone who has been sentenced to imprisonment of 5 years for a violation against the security of the State or other violations determined by law, where 5 further years have not yet elapsed since his release from prison.

• The President of the State, the State Comptroller, the Chief of Staff, the Chief Rabbis, senior IDF officers, judges, dayanim (judges in the religious courts), senior civil servants.

Separate Elections: Knesset & Prime Minister

The nationwide-proportional electoral system that is in force in Israel is a source of dispute among politicians, academics, legal and judicial experts and the press. Those who oppose it name disadvantages, such as:
• The creation of multiple parties, a situation enabling political “extortion.”
• Instability of government resulting from extensive power being concentrated amongst small parties.

The public debate that has been ongoing throughout the existence of the State of Israel led in 1992 to a change in Israel’s electoral and government system. In 1992, the Basic Law: The Government was amended. The amended law determined that double elections would be held in Israel – direct election of the Prime Minister and proportional election to the Knesset. The vote was to be on two separate ballots in two separate envelopes. This change in the electoral system was designed to:
• Reduce the power of small parties
• Reinforce the status of the Prime Minister
• Diminish the extent of the Prime Minister’s dependency on the Knesset.

Following the change in the electoral system, three rounds of elections were held under the new format: in 1996, 1999 and 2001, in the last of which voting was only for the Prime Minister. A further examination of the status of government in Israel brought about an additional amendment to the law in 2001, canceling the double vote for the Knesset and the Prime Minister, while still reinforcing the power of the Prime Minister and the government by increasing the majority needed to propose a no-confidence vote. In 2006 elections were held for the Knesset.