Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
There are three kinds of local governments. Municipal governments serve large urban ar-
eas. Local councils serve towns of 2,000 to 20,000 residents. Regional councils manage associa-
tions of small, nearby villages. Residents of each local government elect a mayor or chair and
a local council. As with Knesset elections, those who serve on the local council are determined
by the votes each party receives. The Ministry of Interior sets the number of seats on each
council depending on population. Elections occur every fi ve years.
Voting rates among Israeli Jews in municipal elections are typically low, although some
races become more heated if hot-button topics like public religious observance are up for de-
bate. On the other hand, voting rates among Israeli Arabs in municipal elections are generally
very high, both out of loyalty to their candidates and out of a sense of empowerment, since lo-
cal government is one area of Israeli politics in which Israeli Arabs, often the majority in towns
and villages, have the most direct control in government.
ELECTORAL SYSTEM
Israel's national electoral system is based on proportional representation. The number of votes
each party receives translates directly into the number of seats the party receives in the Knes-
set. The only exception is that a party needs to pass a minimum threshold by receiving at least
2 percent of the vote to gain a seat in the Knesset. The purpose of that rule was to reduce the
number of small parties, although its effect has been limited.
Although the large number of parties is often decried, there is no serious movement to
change the system. Having many parties and government by coalition makes government less
effi cient and forces the making of many deals that many people do not like. Yet the situation
also makes representation more directly possible for diverse groups. In the 2009 election, for
example, thirty-three parties were on the ballot, and twelve obtained seats. Of these, three had
the minimum of three seats (left-wing Jewish, right-wing, and Arab); another three had four
seats (a right-wing and two Arab parties); and one had fi ve seats (Haredim religious). The re-
sult was that twenty-six seats, more than 20 percent of the total, were tied to small parties. The
two biggest parties (Likud at twenty-seven seats and Kadima at twenty-eight seats) together
had somewhat fewer than half the seats.
The system, then, ensures that electoral power is dispersed. The larger parties argue that
since what is most important is which leader and party rule the country, voting for a small
party is a wasted ballot. Small parties respond that a vote for them ensures the existence of a
force to push the government to the left or the right — depending on the party — and makes it
more responsive to religious, secular, immigrant, or Mizrahi interests.
Since voters support a party as a whole rather than a specifi c person, they do not infl uence
the careers of individual candidates, except the prime minister's, and even that indirectly. Vot-
ing by party puts more of a focus on issues than does the common Western model in which
voters may vote for individual politicians merely because they are charismatic, good-looking,
or articulate on television. Voting by party also encourages parties to take stances that are
clearly different from their rivals'. In much Western politics, the tendency is for each party to
try to appeal to all voters.
