Israel's Political System

With Ehud Olmert deciding not to be a candidate in the September 17th primaries of the Kadimah party, he effectively becomes a lameduck prime minister. Mr. Olmert has been under pressure to step aside from many directions. He was faulted for his handling of the second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006 and he is under investigation by the attorney general for corruption going back several years.

This current situation gives me the opportunity to write about the political system here in Israel.It is quite different than in the US. Israel has a one chamber parliament, the Knesset, with 120 seats. There is a prime minister and a president. The office of president is considered an honorary position. The president is elected by the Knesset and not in the general election. Elections are held for parties and not individuals. In theory elections are held every four years but rare is the government that lasts the full four years.

Seats in the Knesset are apportioned according to the percentage of votes received by each party in the election. In order to govern, a party needs 61 seats in the Knesset. Following an election the president will ask the leader of the party with the most seats to form a new government. I do not recall a government in Israel's history where one party had the requisite number of seats. This brings about negotiations among the parties, usually among the major parties, until a coalition is formed totalling 61 seats. In order to agree to be part of the governing coalition, the various parties will make demands, hoping that items of importance to them will become part of the coalition agreement. The orthodox parties are usually key to any coalition agreement. There is no separation of religion and state in Israel.

The current government is led by Kadimah, a centrist party created by Ariel Sharon. When Sharon became incapacitated, Ehud Olmert became prime minister since he was second in line on the party list. The fact that Olmert has stepped aside has made the party primary very significant. There are about 75,000 Kadimah party members; about half will probably vote in the primary. The leading candidates to succeed Olmert as head of the party are Shaul Mofaz, currently Minister of Transportation and Tzipi Livni, the present Foeign Minister.

Mofaz has a reputation of being quite hawkish while Tzipi Livni appears to be more centrist. Both are campaigning vigorously in an effort to become leader of the party. Most likely the winner will be asked to form a new government.

There are those in the country who favor early elections rather than another Kadimah led government. The strongest voice in this direction is that of Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the opposition Likud party and, himself, a former prime minister.

As I write,no one has any idea what the outcome will be. Some of the underlying issues in the campaign include issues of security, negotiations with the Palestinians and Syria,the problem of Iran, and the return of Gilad Shalit who still is held captive by Hamas. There are domestic issues as well including the budget, money for education and infrastructure.

It is quite possible that Mr. Olmert will continue as prime minister for several months while this process works its way out. But who knows, tomorrow it may all change because, after all, this is the Middle East.

Frank