Authors
Nir Atmor
Publication date
2022/11
Journal
Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft
Volume
16
Issue
3
Pages
447-461
Publisher
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
Description
For the last 70 years, the main features of Israel’s extreme proportional representation electoral system have been preserved. The constant debate about the system involves the tension between many parties, coalitional instability, and governance problems. Despite serious electoral reform attempts in the Knesset (Israeli parliament), the vast majority failed to achieve parliamentary consensus (with the exception of the direct popular election of the Prime Minister in Israel, 1996–2003). Minor changes adopted in recent decades concerned only the electoral threshold, the percentage of the popular vote required to obtain a seat in the Knesset. This threshold increased incrementally until 2014, when it stood at 3.25%, still relatively low compared to other countries. However, the discussion on the electoral threshold has recently arisen again in the wake of Israel’s fifth election in three years, between 2019 and 2022. This …
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