The Israeli Knesset voted to disband itself and call for new elections. The British Parliament has similar system An elected government can stay in office for a full term (in Israel that’s 5 years) or, if feeling confident, can call for a new round of elections to strengthen their position. They can also be forced to call elections by a vote ofno confidence in the existing government.
In Israel the situation became very complicated because on of the parties that was part of the ruling coalition quit. Defense minister Avigdor Liberman resigned over the crises in Gaza and took his followers with him. this left Benjamin Netanyahu with a narrow majority of 1 vote in the Knesset. Netanyahu is also under a threat of indictment for fraud. The police investigation is complete and the attorney general, who is independent, is studying their report. He is under pressure to deliver an indictment before the elections. Meanwhile, election fever has set in. Several members of the Knesset have split from their original parties and formed new ones. and their is a new actor on the scene in the form of former army chief of staff Bennie Gantz. Gantz was barred by law from immediately going into politics. Such activity has been a favorite second occupation for a lot of former generals.
It’s important to remember that Israel does not have individual elections. The Knesset is elected by voting for particular parties. Each party puts forward a fixed list of candidates. The leader of the part that gets the most votes is usually asked to form a coalition government. He does this by giving ministerial posts to leaders of other factions. The Israeli public votes for parties, and while any single vote is not going to elect a particular person, it will elect another party member lower on the list who is going to support the leader of the party. In addition, their is a requirement for a party to get enough votes to elect their leader and at least 3 supporters gets no seats. There is also a possibility of sharing votes with another party. votes in excess of the percentage needed for the minimum needed to get the most seats possible can be transferred to another party in order to give the second party an extra seat. Such agreements are, of course, made before the elections. Israeli Arabs currently run on a united list in order to avoid the minimum percentage barrier. But it makes a party whose members often have ideological conflicts with one another.
The actual elections won’t take place for another three months or so. Meanwhile, our local news will be full of who is joining/leaving which party and are they having primaries to determine who will be the party leader. The economy seems solid, but the rich-poor gap is troublesome. So we will be looking forward to a period of bread and circuses before the elections.
Wetherhorn 