“Dad,” my oldest son asked me a few minutes ago. “Who won the elections?”
“Well, Tzipi won one more seat than Bibi, but there’s a good chance Bibi will be the next prime minister.”
“Huh?” He said quizzically, adding after a minute:
“I wish Israel’s elections were like America’s. They were easy to understand.”
Granted, my 14-year-old and I followed the 2008 US election year pretty closely. And even though we are not Americans, we didn’t need to be rocket scientists to understand what was happening there:
Two parties. Two sets of ideas - some overlapping but mostly clear cut lines separating the two. One man (or woman) and his elected vice presidential candidate ultimately representing each party. You vote for the one you basically agree with, and the one who gets most votes becomes president.
Likewise with the congressmen and senators – individuals run for election under one of the two party banners and the winner goes to the hill.
It’s amazing how well that system works – and it works for hundreds of millions of people.
In Israel, barely five million voters need to be educated, appealed to, and processed. Why can’t the process be as straightforward and successful here?
I want to answer the question, which has also been asked by my readers “out there.”
My boy needs to understand how elections work in Israel because next time – provided they are not early elections, as these were – he will be old enough to vote.
As importantly – in fact more so - I want him to understand how Christian Zionists view Israel’s elections – what are the issues those who share our faith believe to be important when it comes to who governs Israel, how they do it, and what the consequences are.
But I will keep this second part for a separate article and endeavor here to cover the first part in as straightforward a way as I can:
Tuesday morning, February 10, the polling booths opened and Israelis began voting to elect a new government under the leadership of a new prime minister.
At the same time, the first real storm of a winter that has been all but non-existent blew in. Snow in the north, rain, hail and gusting winds accompanied by thunder further south to Jerusalem; the inclemency threatened to keep many of the 5.2 million eligible voters home.
Election watchers had forecast a lower turnout than was hoped for even before the storm appeared. But those running for office and Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, appealed to the electorate to behave “maturely” and get out and vote.
Israel’s voters include all adults over the age of 18 who are citizens of the State of Israel – whether they be Jew, Muslim Arab, Christian Arab, Beduin, Druze or one of the handful of gentiles from other lands who have been granted citizenship here.
By day’s end, fully 60 percent of voters had done their duty – which while not a record certainly was an improvement over the last general election, and handily proved the pundits wrong.
Of course this is the right and normal way in a democracy. The people of the land enjoy the privilege and practice the responsibility of choosing their leaders in accordance with the criteria that are important to them as citizens. They understand they have to live with their choice; and if they should support a losing candidate, they will have to abide by the choice of the majority until next election day.
General elections are held every four years, (unless the Knesset or the prime minister decides to hold them early).
Alright already! (Yes, I can hear you.) Who is being voted for?
Well, Israel has a president and a prime minister. The president’s duties are mainly ceremonial; his office is not part of the country’s three branches of government, which are the Knesset, the prime minister and his ministers, and the courts.
Israel elects its political leadership by nation-wide proportional representation. There are lots of parties – 33 ran this year. The number of seats each party gets in the 120-seat Knesset depends on the percentage of the vote it receives; it needs more than two percent to qualify.
The voters vote for a party list, and not for a particular person on the list. Some parties directly elect their candidates for the list; spiritual leaders (rabbis) appoint leaders in the ultra-religious parties.
Of the 33 parties, 12 got in as follows (with the number of seats each will have):
Kadima - 28; Likud - 27; Israel Our Home - 15; Labor - 13; Shas - 11; Meretz - 3; United Torah Judaism - 5; Jewish Home - 3; National Union - 4; Hadash - 4; United Arab List / Ta’al - 4; Balad – 3
This is where it starts to get tricky.
Normally, the chairman/woman of the party that wins the most seats would almost automatically be prime minister.
Normally, but not necessarily, as we are learning this year.
It’s like you run one race, but if you win that one you have another rack of hurdles to overcome to secure your position.
The thing is, once the election results are in, the president’s task is to instruct the winning party’s chairman to put together a coalition.
Why a coalition? Well, this is only necessary if no party wins a full majority of seats. In other words, if Kadima had won 61 seats it would have been able to govern on its own. As it has only 28 seats (at latest counting- yes, that too is not quite over yet), it needs to get some of the other parties to join it in order to come up with at least 61 seats. Getting those parties on board can take some hard bargaining, promising them support for some of their policies and constituents, even offering them ministries, at the expense of some of the hopeful members of the winning party.
If Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni could succeed in getting other parties to join her for a majority, then she would be prime minister.
Her problem is that the number of other parties’ members she needs is believed more likely to want to go with her opponent – Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.
This is because Livni and Kadima are too left of center for these lists’ liking.
If she is asked to form a governing coalition, and fails, the president will turn to Netanyahu to have a go.
Then again, President Peres may choose to ask Netanyahu to take the first shot just because he appears more likely from the start to succeed, and it is important for Israel that an effective new government be formed as soon as possible.
To sum up. Tzipi Livni’s Kadima Party won, but not enough likely allies won along with her to easily enable the forming of a government.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party came in a close second, but he has plenty of potential allies among the other more right-wing parties to be able to put a governing coalition together.
So, Livni won but may lose, and Bibi lost but may win.
Both leaders are already in intense negotiations with the other parties to try and get their partnership.
We will know in the coming few days which way things are likely to go, and who will finally get to sit in the Prime Minister’s Chair.
Believe me, we are as eager to find out as you are!
OK….Thank you! That is much clearer. It’s kind of like picking people who will then pick a leader & team. Who ever has the biggest team after the election wins, whether they won the election or not. All I can say is go Netanyaho!!!!
= )
WOW! Thanks, Stan! I just had a friend ask me about this yesterday and what I explained (based on my understanding) was pretty much what you just stated. I clarified that is was my own understanding, so now I can confirm it. Confused but not, and praying for the outcome.
Hi Stan!
Good explanation. The way I’ve explained to a couple of friends in our neighborhood; it is almost like the elections are like our primaries. Then, the Presidential Pic and attempt to build a coalition is like the election. Not quite, but the steps are there.
Thanks for sharing!
It does seem crazy, but I sure wish our elections in the states were more like this. I don’t feel at all like they are fair here, for there is the popular vote and the electoral vote. One wins with the electoral vote, even if the opponent gets the popular vote — the will of the people, which is what a democracy is supposed to be about. The whole game of politics seems to be the same here or there, doesn’t it!!
We need to stay in prayer for this election in Israel, as I see it being the most important of the century… for sure.
Hi Stan thank you for your explanation - very helpful and understandable!
Thanks Stan,
I see it as sorta of having a backup system, when the plan idoesn’t work out to a perfect one, Israel has found away to come back and make it work in a more perfect cercumstance!. I think it’s a genuis plan!!
Mid,
As an American who also lives in Israel let me assure you that America’s electoral system is far more effective and representative of its citizens’ will than Israel’s system.
There is much more to the American Federal Government than the Office of the President. Americans elect Senators to represent their respective states in Washington DC, and they elect Congress members to the House that represent their districts–within their states–at the national level. These members of congress, especially the House members who run for reelection every two years, are easily replaced if they fail to faithfully represent their constituents.
Israel has nothing even remotely similar. The people do not vote for a person, but for a party. There is really no accountability. At least not at the level the US system has.
Furthermore, the coalition style of government leads to endless backroom deals and shady bargains between parties; all of it in order to keep sufficient numbers of MKs in the governing coalition. The bloated bureaucracy in Israel assures that almost nothing gets done in an orderly or timely manner. As Stan mentioned, Israeli governments are supposed to last 4 years. On average, they have actually lasted slightly more than 3 years for each government since 1948. The governments here are highly unstable.
America has many problems with its election system, such as murky campaign donations, pandering to special interest groups, and out-right voter fraud (read: ACORN), but taken as a whole it is an excellent system. America’s three branches of government and the checks and balances it created are nothing short of brilliant.
Israel’s early legislators were nearly all European Socialists, and Israelis today are still suffering from some of their policies.
But that is just one man’s opinion.
Shalom.
STAN AMERICA HAS HIT THE BOTTOM AND WE MUST AS AMERICANS REACH OUT TO EACH OTHER AND CALL DOWN GOD’S LOVE AND HIS PROTECTIVE HAND AGAIN. I BELIEVE THE ONLY WAY AMERICA AND ISRAEL CAN SURVIVE IS TO HAVE A NATIONAL REVIVAL, A RENEWING OF FAITH IN OUR LIVING GOD.
GOD BLESS ISRAEL YOUR CHOSEN NATION, AND MY LORD IF IT BE YOUR PRECIOUS WILL BLESS AMERICA AGAIN.
If anyone who came “out of” Likud to form the Kadima Party (forward), took a step BACKWARD and rejoined Likud, would that do it?
I do not know the numbers they represent; but it sounds resonable to me. How would Adonai look at it? Wunderbar?? Maybe not. His ways are not our Ways. So let us pray THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS I N HEAVEN.
After all ISRAEL, specifically JERUSALEM, is where He reigns from in the not so far Future, AMEN? Amen !!!
I am glad for the Israeli system in the present circumstances.
I read that Livni only got the extra seat because of the disillusioned Labour voters moved further to the centre left. Netanyahu got less seats because of his wish to establish a comprehensive broad Right Wing Coaltion and that Right Wing voters, assuming he was well ahead of Livni according to the pre- election polls, felt it was safe to bolster his government with seats for the other Right Wing parties . The majority of Israelis have clearly voted for the right– it would be a travesty if Kadima got in despite that - by just one seat!
At least ,this way,BIBI still has the edge over Livni to form the largest coalition. God enable him!
BIWX
You did well in that explanation of the elections.
To this Aussie, the system seems overly complicated.
The saying goes something like this “If at first you don’t succeed ….”
Now I challenge the panel to finish that off …. with Israel’s election in mind.
Perhaps, sooner than we think, the Israeli PM, the local grape picker and a good many others will cry out to Messiah to have mercy. Bring it on.
My Italian friend gets confused and writes “Shalami”
But I hang in there with Shalom.
Hi Stan, Thank you very much for the explanation. I too would like to see the USA do the same thing. I believe it is a much better check and balance on a Govt and the desires of the People.
In my estimation.
Sometimes I wonder if it matters. Because the REAL issue is the Satanic opposition to the restoration of Israel and to all that God is doing there. So it’s bigger than men/women.
The same one who caused Pharoah to kill the babies, meaning to kill Moses, and the same one who caused Herod to kill the babies, meaning to kill Yeshua, and the same one who saw the restoration of Israel beginning and therefore caused Hitler to attempt to destroy the Jewish people — this is the one who knows his time is short and will do all he can to stop the plan of God.
Whether the left takes office and makes it happen more quickly, or the right takes office and perhaps slows it down - neither will really matter, because the players here aren’t Bibi or Livni, the players really are Satan versus God.
So our role isn’t to watch the man or woman player. Our role is to provide the prayer. I don’t mean that we pray and do nothing, but I do mean we need to have a deeper understanding of what exactly is going on, so we can pray most effectively.
I’ve been praying for Bibi to become Israel’s next PM!
Democracy is not great, it’s just the best (human) system we’ve got! USA has it’s flaws, as Mid pointed out. Israel’s system too (see Matthew)! While we need to perform our duty as citizens to go out and vote and then to continue to take our responsibility seriously (even if the “other” guy got in), we know we have a God who is involved. He knows the good purposes He has for Israel in the coming days. He is not beyond using all the back-room deals being worked out, even now, between the Israeli parties, to bring His purposes into being. Election Day is past. Let’s cry out to the Lord now to steer the political leaders in His paths! But then, as Paula says, we have to continue in prayer as the plans are worked out. The plans are not always for comfort and prosperity now. But they are good plans, maybe for more of His people both in Israel and America (and of course elsewhere!) to return to the Lord and cry out for mercy!
thanks for explaining all that! I couldn’t figure it out to save my life!
Shabbat Shalom.
Upon reading this, to my great amazement I discovered that I had “kinda - sorta - almost” figured most of this out already! Perhaps because my country’s politics is not so far behind what Israel has going on over there, and…somehow…I don’t think that’s a good thing! However, your careful expanation made things alot clearer for me too, Stan, so - thank you!
Shalom Stan ,
Pastor Gunderson ,(who you met at my house ), and I have been keeping track of the election via Arutz Sheva. Thank-you. We are rooting for Bibi, and we hope he will take a more Biblical approach than he apparently stands for. Thank you for the concise explanation of the electoral process . Meanwhile President Obama & the Liberal Democrat US Congress are steamrolling a very un-kosher( pork laden) 800 billion dollar spending bill through Capitol Hill ,that will I fear , bankrupt America and send us into a deep depression. May God grant mercy to Israel, and especially to Jerusalem. This is a sinking ship over here. The US will go down the tubes & Isreal will survive! It is written !
Shalom ,Jeremy
Stan, I wouldn’t be quite so quick to extol the virtues of the American political system. While this year’s election was something of an anomoly (with a reported voter turnout of nearly 60% of the voting aged population voting), the US regularly sees meager voter turnouts, particularly in off (non-presidential) election years, when the turnout is around 30%. Even more shockingly, of the registered voting population in the country (those who make the effort to sign up to participate in the process), roughly 50 million stay home each election.
You praised the perceived benefits of the 2 party system in the US, but I can tell you that this system has its failings. The two dominant parties here have long failed to adequately represent the interests of many (or a majority) of Americans. For example, the Republican party here failed in this last election primarily because they are perceived as having abandoned their small government/fiscal conservative base, while their embracing the far right minority on social issues has alienated them from the moderate mainstream in the country. At the same time, the Democrats are now seen by many as being too fiscally liberal, while their social liberalism is, too, distasteful for mainstream moderates.
All this having been said, the multiple party, coalition form of government ba’aretz is clearly a broken system. It is inconceivable that a candidate can receive a majority of the popular vote and not win the election (wait, that has happened here before). And it is unfortunate that too often, the minority parties in Israel (for example the right wing orthodox parties), who represent a smaller percentage of the population, hold such sway in the political process because of the necessity of including them in forming a coalition government.
I don’t know what the best solution is to the problems plaguing both nations’ political process. I did read recently that there is a possibility that Likud and Kadima may form a coalition. This idea, bringing together the two largest majorities and those most in the mainstream, has a great deal of appeal, particularly if in doing so there can be real compromise in finding an acceptable middle ground on issues of contention. Again, I don’t know if it can be done, but if it is possible for more of Hashem’s people to come together and work together peacefully, may Hashem will it to be so.
Hi Stan,
First off, thank you so much for your website (which I’ve just found), it’s great!!
Thanks for the explanation re the election system in Israel. From following the press plus info. picked up from other pro-Jewish websites I had pretty well figured it out but your explanation rounded it out very nicely for me - now I can talk more freely to others when they ask me about it.
Shalom,
Bev.