December 21, 2009

The Knesset for Dummies by Prof. Paul Eidelberg

How can MK's be elected on one platform and then blithely support diametrically opposed policies? That's because Israelis vote for parties, not candidates, leading to no individual voter accountability.

Shimon is a member of Israel's Knesset. His party may have as little as two and as many as 30 if not more Knesset members. The number varies because Israel has made the entire country a single electoral district, in which a multitude of parties compete for Knesset seats on the basis of Proportional Representation.


This means Shimon got into the Knesset, not because more people voted for him than for a rival candidate in a local district. No, he got into the Knesset because his party's slate of candidates received the number of national votes required to reach or surpass the electoral threshold: today 2 percent of the total number of (legal) votes cast in a national election. This is something Shimon will keep in mind whenever he votes on a particular bill or measure on the Knesset's agenda. His future, as well as that of his party, depends on this. Indeed, if he plays the game right, he may eventually become a cabinet minister-the ambition of almost every Knesset Member (MK).

As a cabinet minister Shimon will have a more spacious office and a more numerous staff than he had as a Knesset "backbencher." His salary and his perks, his prestige and power, far exceed that of a mere MK........

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