As you can see from my OP, this is a GQ with too much chance of ending in the pit. So I’ll post it here and see how it goes.
I just saw on CNN that Sharon may be up for a vote (confidence?). Now, I’m used to American politics where there is a general election. But it seems every 2 years or so, the parliament (sorry, can’t recall the name of the body) somehow names a new leader in Isreal.
So multi-question here: How many parties make up the parliament (Again, can’t remember the name)? What is the percentage of votes needed to keep or boot someone? How is this reconciled with the voters that elected the PM? Does the PM get elected to a term, or is he in there till he doesn’t pass a vote of confidence? (I’m pretty sure the confidence thing is what I was thinking of earlier)
Again, I’d like any info on how this works. Just please answer these issues before hijacking.
Likud-the major party on the right
Labor-Meimad-the major party on the left
Shinui-a liberal secular party
Shas-a Sephardic religious party
Ha-ichud Ha-leumi (National Union)-a right wing religious nationalist party
Meretz-a peace party
National Religious Party-a religious party
Yahadut Hatorah-a religious party, descendent of the old Agudat Yisrael)
Balad-an Arab party
Hadash-Ta`al-another Arab party
One Nation-I think they’re Communist
United Arab List-another Arab party
and there are about a dozen parties currently represented in the knesset. the two biggies are likud and labour. no party ever gets a majority of the seats though (that’s not a law, just the way it works out in practice) so governing coalitions are formed, but the pm is elected separately. the pm must maintain the confidence of the knesset for his government.
elections are every four years, with a low threshold (1.5%) pr, but both the knesset as a body and the pm can call for early elections, and knesset with a special majority can also delay elections.
the 16th knesset is sitting now, which means governments in israel average about 3 1/2 years - not all that stable, but not all that unstable either.
Basically, Israel’s democracy is a parliamentary system. This means that people don’t directly elect the prime minister (generally - there was a period a few years ago in which Israel did experiment with direct election of the PM separate from the parliamentary elections, but I believe that that’s been done away with), they vote for a party, and the parties choose whoever they want to fill those parliamentary seats. It requires a majority of votes in the Knesset (that would be 61, as the Knesset has a total of 120 members) to seat a government, including filling the various ministry portfolios (Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, etc). Since no single party usually gets a majority of Knesset seats, the party with the largest plurality usually wheels-and-deals with smaller parties (offering ministry portfolios or promises of legislation or funding) to form a coalition that will have a majority of seats, which would approve the new government.
To un-seat a government and demand new elections would take a similar majority in a vote of no-confidence.
So your question:
Is from a uniquely American perspective. The voters didn’t elect the PM - they elected the members of Knesset, who in turn approved or disapproved the PM, and/or kept him or booted him. (or her)
The Knesset seats are allocated for a four-year term. This term can be ended early by a vote of no confidence, but cannot be extended, a new vote will occur in four years regardless of a lack of confidence motions.
Just to muddy the waters a bit, Israel also has a President, elected by the Knesset. As Head of the State, the President’s role is almost entirely ceremonial, and he is actively discouraged by law and tradition to make controversial statements. In his capacty as the ultimate neutral party in Israel (no small feat in itself), the President also appoints other (ideally) politically-neutral positions, such as high-level secular and religious judges and bureaucrats with portfolios such as science, education and finance.
BTW, as an append to cmkeller’s post: Israel does not have one single Constitution per se, but a series of “Basic Laws” that govern the essentials of State Governeance and people’s rights. An amendment to the BL of the Government passed in 1992, effective 1996, made the PM position a separately-elected office, on a run-off voting system – though still dependent on Parliament to actually form a government. This was in place as late as the 2001 election of Sharon. Since then, there has been legislation to return to the parliamentary system, I believe retaining the ability to poll a preference for who’ll be PM, but I cannot verify that.
BTW, the idea of a regular term of N years, but Parliament can vote “no confidence” and call an earlier election, this is a feature of every Parliamentary system, not just Israel’s. The same is true of the UK, Canada, Italy, Ireland, and Australia, for instance.
A “no confidence” vote can be a rejection of a major piece of legislation proposed by the Prime Minister. In the U.S. system, the President’s poliltical party need not have a majority of Congress. In a Parliamentary system, the Prime Minister’s political party (or coalition if there are more than two parties) MUST have a majority of Parliament. Failure to maintain a majority is a “no confidence” situation.
We last had one here in the Great White North in 1980 (our third in 113 years). We may get one again in a short while, since it looks increasingly likely that no party will secure a majority in Parliament in the upcoming elections.
Thanks for all the info, it makes a little more sense now. One more question? If a PM is booted after say 3 1/2 years, does the 4-year timeline reset? Or is it like an American VP after a Pres resignation? Meaning would the new PM have to be renamed after 6 months?
If the PM is booted, there are not necessarily new elections (see below) - although that usually happens as sort of a corrolary. What you are asking about is whta happens if the Knesset is disbanded after, say, 3 1/2 years. The answer (now regarding the Knesset): Time line resets - sort of. There is a date given in law for holding elections; this generally falls in November (but is pegged to the Jewish calendar). If there are early elections, they are held on an agreed date, set forth in the Law of Knesset Disbanding (by custom, Knesset has to pass a law to disband itself - even if the election are held according to the original timeline). But, the next Knesset, created following the elections, is slated to rule until the date set in law for elections, no less than 4 years following the current elections (I think this is what it boils down to. I don’t have the letter of the law available right now). So, if the Knesset is disbanded in March, the following Knesset is nominally elected for over 4 1/2 years - until November of the fourth year.
Who is PM has nothing to do with this. There can be, and have been, changes in government without a general election. An early general election is what happens when there is a stalemate trying to re-create a colalition following some political crisis (or a sufficiently large number of parties in the Knesset think they’ll profit from having a new elections. Which generally doesn’t quite work out… but that’s a whole different kettle of fish)
To address the question of Direct Elections of the PM - this was thrown out in 2001. Sharon in this, his second (consecutive) term as PM was nominated by the President as head of the largest party, not elected directly by the population. Barak had still been elected directly. Sharon’s first term was the result of a “Special Election” for PM only, which was possible under the short-lived Direct Election laws (due to Barak’s resignation without the Knesset disbanding). If Sharon resigns tomorrow - or if the Knesset votes No Confidence, the President will be asked to name a condidate for PM, who has a given amount of time (45 days?) to present his gov. to the Knesset and pass a vote of confidence.If (s)he fails, the President then asks some other politician to try… until either a government if formed or a new election is agreed upon (two elections without a government hasn’t happened yet, though).
I think what may be confusing here is that, while changing government mid-term is quite common in Parliamentary Systems (think Italy after WWII), holding early elections, while possible in these systems (and sometimes happening) is usually rarer. In Israel it does seem to happen a bit more often than elsewhere.
Hope this is slightly clearer to you now! It’s still completely arcane to me! (me, I just live here…)
Excellent answer! I think I got it now. I guess the problem is I keep equating PM’s to Presidents. And if I had paid attention to the earlier post about the PM being voted on by the Knessett, I maybe could have figured it out myself. :smack:
Thanks everyone for shattering another facet of my ignorance.
Not necessarily. I wouldn’t know how it works in other countries, but here, the parliament can reject as many major pieces of legislation it wants , without it being a “no confidence” vote. The vote on confidence must be specifically called for.
To come back to the OP, I didn’t know that the law which stated that the PM would be elected directly by the people had been recalled. Are the posters who mentionned it sure it is the case, or are they somehow not absolutely positive?
True. OTOH, You are all describing what is called a “Vote of No Confidence”, which will invariably be sponsered by the opposition. The government may at any time decide to make any vote a “Vote of Confidence” - meaning that if the bill (usually government-sponsored) is not passed, the government has effectively resigned. This tool can be used to force unruly coalition members to vote with government in cases that they don’t really want the government to fall - they only want to see it “bleed” - lose some important votes without actually falling (perhaps because they want some other piece of legislation…)
Like I said, me, I just live here… And they didn’t let me vote for PM last time around. So yes, I’m fairly positive…
