The principles upon which the electoral system is based
The general framework for the elections was laid down in article 4 of the Basic Law:
The Knesset, and according to it the Knesset is to be elected in general, country-wide,
direct, equal, secret and proportional elections. This article can only be amended by a
vote of a majority of the Knesset members.
The principle of the generality of the elections ensures the active right of every
Israeli citizen, who is at least 18 years old, to vote and the right of every
Israeli citizen, who is at least 21 years old, to be elected. Even though the
Basic Law: The Knesset gave the legislator the power to deny the right to vote
to anyone as it may see fit, the Knesset has never made use of this power.
Those holding certain official positions, such as the
President of the State,
the State Comptroller, judges or dayanim,
career officers, and senior civil servants, may not stand for election to the Knesset.
The principle of country-wide elections states that Israel is a single electoral
district insofar as the distribution of Knesset seats is concerned.
Direct elections mean that the voter elects the Knesset directly, rather than
an electoral college (as is the case in the election of the President in the
United States). Equal elections apply to equality amongst the votes given, and
the Supreme Court laid down that the principle
of equality relates to equality of opportunities for all the lists participating
in the elections as well.
The principle of secrecy ensures fairness in the elections and aspires to prevent
the placing of effective pressure on voters, since no one has any way of knowing
how they actually voted. The principle of proportionality manifests itself in
that all the lists, which get past the qualifying threshold, are represented in
the Knesset by a number of members which is proportional to their electoral strength.
The frequency of elections
The Knesset elections are supposed to take place every four years.
The Knesset can decide, by an ordinary majority, to dissolve itself and call for
early elections. The elections to the second (1951),
fifth (1961), tenth
(1981), eleventh (1984), thirteenth
(1992) and fourteenth (1996) Knessets were all held before
the due date. The Knesset can also decide, by a special majority, to prolong its term
beyond four years. This happened in the cases of the third,
fifth, seventh,
ninth, and eleventh
Knessets, each of which served for more than four years. The elections to the
eighth Knesset (1973) were delayed because of the Yom
Kippur War. Since the coming into force of the new Basic
Law: the Government towards the elections to the 14th Knesset, early elections
are to be held under the following circumstances: A decision by the Prime Minister
to dissolve the Knesset, a decision by the Knesset to dissolve itself before its
term is completed, a vote on a motion of no-confidence
in the Prime Minister, and the failure to pass the budget law within three months
of the beginning of the financial year.
Who can participate in elections?
The contest in the elections is amongst lists of candidates. Since the Parties Law
was passed in 1992 only a party, which has been legally registered with the Party
Registrar, or an alignment of two or more registered parties, which have decided to
run in the elections together, can present a list of candidates and participate in
the elections. Meretz, which is made up of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, the joint
Likud-Gesher-Tsomet list, and Yahadut Hatorah, which is made up of Agudat Yisrael
and Degel Hatorah, are all examples of such alignments. A list which acts
directly or indirectly against the existence of the State of Israel as the state
of the Jewish people or against its democratic nature, or a list which incites
racism may not run in the elections.
The distribution of seats among the lists
The lists that have passed the qualifying threshold receive a number of Knesset
seats which is propotional to their electoral strength. This is done by the
division of valid votes given to the lists which passed the qualifying threshold,
by 120, in order to determine how many votes entitle a list to a single seat.
In the elections to the second and seventh Knessets the excess votes
(the votes received by a list which passed the qualifying threshold, but are not
sufficient for a whole seat) were distributed to those lists which had the
largest number of excess votes (the Hare method). In the elections to the
first Knesset, and since the elections to the eighth, the excess votes are
distributed to the lists with the largest number of voters per seat - a
method known in the world as Hagenbach-Bischoff (de-Hondt), and is known in
Israel as the Bader-Ofer method - named after MKs Yohanan Bader (Gahal) and
Avraham Ofer (Alignment) who proposed its adoption. Two lists can reach an
agreement regarding the distribution of excess votes between them before the
elections.
The electoral system