Israel Political Arena From Dominant party thru dual

Israel Political Arena From Dominant party, thru dual center to the current instability

Election and the legislative branch § The entire country is one electoral district. § The election is for the Knesset - the House of Representatives. § A party that wins more than 2% of the votes (the qualifying threshold) is represented. § Proportional representation: the number of seats which every list receives in the Knesset is proportional to the number of voters who voted for it. § The result is multiplicity of parties which represent, in some cases, small groups of interest.

The System – The executive branch § The head of the biggest party (usually) is appointed by the president as prime minister. § The biggest party forms a coalition to have majority § The policy of the government is a compromise between different parties which formed the coalition. § The prime minister depends on every member of the coalition. § The system suffers from instability. 5 elections in 10 years.

Mapai as the Dominant Party 1948 -1977 Mapai/ Labore Potential partners for coalition Leftwing Zionists Mapam Communists Religious Parties Bourgeois party General Zionists/ Liberal Ben Gurion: “Without Herut and whitout Maki” Non Partners Herut

Election results 1949 -2006

Dual System 1977 -2001 Likud Labor Leftwing Parties The main dispute: Religious Parties The future of the territories Secular Parties Right-wing Parties

§ § § § Prime Ministers 1948 -2006 David Ben Gurion (Mapai) – 1948 – 1953. Moshe Sharet (Mapai) – 1954 -1955. David Ben Gurion (Mapai) -1955 -1963. Levi Eshkol (Mapai - renamed Labor)– 1963 -1969. Golda Meir (Labor) – 1969 -1974. Yitzhak Rabin (Labor) – 1974 -1977. Menachem Begin (Likud) – 1977 -1983 – The Upheaval Shimon Peres (Labor) – 1984 -1986 Yitzhak Shamir (Likud)– 1983 -1984 (After Begin resignation); 1986 -1992. Yitzhak Rabin (Labor) - 1992 -1995 (Assassinated by a rightwing radical and was replaced by Peres for Seven months). Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) – 1996 -1999 (Direct election for PM). Ehud Barak (Labor) – 1999 -2001 (Direct election for PM). Ariel Sharon (Likud)- 2001 -2006 (Direct election in 2001 and by the Knesset in 2003) Ehud Olmert (Kadima) - 2006