Israel voted on Tuesday and closed the fate of the new head of state. After voting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems very confident of his victory.The entire world is eyeing Israel’s election, given the deteriorating relationship with Iran and the protests against Netanyahu due to corruption charges on him.
The election of Israel is important for India also, as relations with Israel have become very strong under Netanyahu’s regime. In a statement released on Facebook, Netanyahu said,“the Israelis had given a big win to the right-wing and my led Likud party.”
Opinion polls are in the favour of Netanyahu
In the post-poll surveys, it is being said that Likud would emerge as the largest party and right-wing parties would dominate the election results. Telem and YeshAtidare the parties in the race against Netanyahu’s Likud. Notably, no single party in the history of Israel has been able to form a government with an absolute majority to date.
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Knesset: The Parliament of Israel
The Parliament of Israel is called the Knesset. It is an ancient Hebrew word which according to Jewish tradition was an assembly of 120 sages and prophets. The term of a member of the Knesset is four years. It is through this that the Prime Minister and President of Israel are elected. It is a unicameral 120 members house, which legislates for Israel.
Election procedure
The election takes place once every four years, but the Knesset or the Prime Minister may attempt to move up the elections, through the Knesset Dissolution Law, for instance.
The election of the Knesset is based on a proportional representation system. The Knesset consist of 120 seats. In which the voter has to vote for the party instead of the candidates on the ballot paper. The parties are allotted seats of Knesset in proportion to the votes polled. This process is completed within 28 days. For instance, if a party gets 20 per cent of the vote, then that party will acquire 12 seats in the parliament.
For any party to reach the Knesset, it is imperative to reach a threshold of 3.25 per cent of the total vote. If the vote percentage of a party is less than 3.25, then no seat will be given to it in Parliament.
Before the election, every Israeli party issues a list based on the preferences of its candidates. Based on this, the MP is elected after winning the election. If an MP dies during his tenure, then later leaders included in this list are given a chance.
The age of casting vote in Israel is 18 and the age to contest an election is 21 years. Knesset being multi-party dominated, most of the governments in Israel are coalition governments. It is one of the major reasons for the frequent premature elections in the country.