Israel

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Israel

Basic Laws Jerusalem Law Law of Return President of Israel Shimon Peres Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Cabinet State Comptroller Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik Members Elections: 2003, 2006 Parties Elections Law Central Elections Committee Judicial system Supreme Court Attorney General Menachem Mazuz Districts Local government City council Local councils Regional councils Foreign affairs Israel and the UN Israel and the EU Ambassadors Israeli-Palestinian conflict Arab-Israeli conflict International Law Arab League

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A United Torah Judaism ballot letter from the 2006 election. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Politics of Israel takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic Republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Israel is The Basic Laws of Israel (חוקי יסוד Hokei Yesod) are a key component of Israel 's Unwritten constitution. The Jerusalem Law is a common name of Basic Law Jerusalem Capital of Israel passed by the Knesset on July 30, 1980 (17th The Law of Return ( Hebrew: חוק השבות ḥok ha-shvūt) is Israeli legislation originating in 1950 that gives Jews those of Jewish ancestry The President of the State of Israel (נשיא המדינה Nesi HaMedina, lit (שמעון פרס born Szymon Perski on August 2 1923, is the ninth President of the State of Israel. The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and is the most powerful political officer in Israel (the President of Israel being a titular figurehead Ehud Olmert (אהוד אולמרט ɛˈhud ˈolmeʁt born September 30, 1945) is the 12th and current Prime Minister of Israel and the former leader The Cabinet of Israel is a formal body composed of government officials chosen and led by a Prime Minister. The power of the Knesset to supervise and review government policies and operations is exercised mainly through the state Comptroller (מבקר המדינה Mevaker For Beit Knesset a Jewish Place of worship, see Synagogue. The Knesset (כנסת lit The Speaker of the Knesset is the presiding officer in the Knesset, Israel 's Parliament and also fills the role of the President when he or she Dalia Itzik (דליה איציק born 20 October 1952, is an Israeli politician affiliated with the Kadima party The following is a list of the Members of the 17th Knesset elected on 28 March 2006 and inaugurated 4 May 2006, and their replacements Elections for the 16th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 January 2003. The Elections for the 17th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 March 2006. Israel's Political system is based on Proportional representation which allows for a Multi-party system with numerous parties Knesset Elections Law is crucial legal document governing the process of elections in the Israeli parliament or the Knesset. The Israeli Central Elections Committee (ועדת הבחירות המרכזית Va'adet HaBehirot HaMerkazit) is the highly controversial body charged under the Knesset The Israeli judicial system (or judicial branch in Israel, is an independent branch of the government which includes both secular and religious courts. The Supreme Court ( Hebrew: בית המשפט העליון Beit haMishpat ha'Elyon) is at the head of the court system in the State of Israel. The Attorney General of Israel (היועץ המשפטי לממשלה HaYoetz HaMishpati LaMemshala, lit Menachem Mazuz (מנחם מזוז born 1955 better known in Israel as "Meni Mazuz" is an Israeli Jurist, currently the Israeli Attorney General There are six main administrative districts of Israel, known in Hebrew as mehozot (מחוזות singular mahoz) and fifteen The local governments of Israel (רשות מקומית also known as local authorities are the set of bodies charged with providing services such as Urban planning, A City council (עירייה Iriya) is the official designation of a city within Israel's system of local government. Local councils (מועצה מקומית moetza mekomit) are one of the three types of Local government found in Israel, with the other two being Regional councils are one of the three types of Local government recognised by the found in Israel, with the other two being cities and local The State of Israel joined the United Nations on May 11, 1949. United Nations article Please do not remove -->Issues relating to the Relations between Israel and the European Union are generally positive Current Israeli Ambassadors Ambassadors to International Organizations Current ambassadors from Israel to international organizations Consuls General Current Information on politics by country is available for every Country, including both De jure and De facto independent United Torah Judaism (יהדות התורה המאוחדת Yahadut HaTorah HaMeukhedet; UTJ) is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat The Elections for the 17th Knesset were held in Israel on 28 March 2006.

Israel elects its national legislature, the Knesset, by proportional representation on a national list basis. For Beit Knesset a Jewish Place of worship, see Synagogue. The Knesset (כנסת lit Proportional representation (sometimes referred to as full representation or PR is a category of electoral formula aiming at a close match between the percentage of votes The Knesset has 120 members, elected for terms of four years. However, most of the elections in the country's history were not held on their scheduled date but after less than 4 years (only one of the last 8 Knesset assemblies completed its full term). Early elections can be called by a vote of the majority of Knesset members, or by an edict of the President, and normally occur on occasions of political stalemate and inability of the government to get the parliament's support for its policy. Failure to get the annual budget bill approved by the Knesset by March 31st (3 months after the start of the fiscal year) also leads automatically to early elections.

The Israeli electoral system has an electoral threshold of 2%, making it more favourable to minor parties than systems used in other countries. In Party-list proportional representation systems an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes either Israel has a multi-party system and generally no one party is able to form a government, requiring the parties to form coalition governments. In 1992, Israel adopted a system of direct election of the Prime Minister. Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) The Prime Minister was directly elected separately from the Knesset in 1996, 1999 and 2001. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. The direct election of the Prime Minister was abandoned after the 2001 election, because it failed to produce more stable governments (the 2001 elections were held less than 2 years after the previous one), and led to further fragmentation of the parliament.

Israel also has a President, but his/her role is essentially a figurehead position, with the real governmental power being in the hands of the Prime Minister. The President of the State of Israel (נשיא המדינה Nesi HaMedina, lit

Every Israeli of age 18 or greater may vote in elections. Any Israeli citizen over 21 may be elected to the Knesset, except holders of several high positions in the civil service and officers or career soldiers (those should resign from their post before the elections), soldiers in compulsory service, and felons who were convicted and sentenced to prison terms exceeding 3 months (until 7 years after their prison term expired).

Elections are overseen by the Central Elections Committee and are held according to the Knesset Elections Law. The Israeli Central Elections Committee (ועדת הבחירות המרכזית Va'adet HaBehirot HaMerkazit) is the highly controversial body charged under the Knesset Knesset Elections Law is crucial legal document governing the process of elections in the Israeli parliament or the Knesset.

Voting method

Whilst most countries operating a manual (i. e. paper) voting system use a sheet on which a voter either marks a box for one candidate, or ranks them by number, Israel has a rather unusual balloting method. Upon entry to a polling station, the voter is given an official envelope, and shown to a voting booth. Inside the booth is a tray of ballot papers, one for each party. The voter chooses the relevant paper for their party, put it in the envelope, seals it, and then places the envelope into the ballot box.

Ballot letters

The ballot papers contain minimal information - they are dominated by the "ballot letter(s)" of the party (between one and three letters), with the party name and sometimes a slogan written underneath in small text (see the picture to the right). Each party publicises their letter prior to election day, with most election posters featuring them. As many political parties in Israel are known by their acronyms, several parties can spell out their name in two or three letter, and thus use their name as their ballot letters (e. g. Meretz and Hetz). Meretz-Yachad (מרצ-יחד Vitality - Together) previously known as Meretz and then Yachad, is a left-wing social democratic Hetz (חץ lit Arrow, also an acronym for Hilonit Tzionit (חילונית ציונית Secular Zionist) is a secularist political party Others spell out a specific phrase on their ballot.

Ballots are produced in both Arabic and Hebrew, and are distributed appropriately; a voting booth in virtually all-Jewish towns would probably only have Hebrew slips, booths in all-Arab towns would have all Arabic slips, and those in mixed cities such as Haifa would have both. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Haifa (חֵיפָה; حَيْفَا) is the largest City in Northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country with Parties use the equivalent letters in both languages; for instance Kadima use כן (Kaph-Nun) in Hebrew and ﻙﻥ (also Kaph-Nun) in Arabic. Kadima (קדימה lit Forward) is a political party in Israel. Kaph (also spelled Kap or Kaf) is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Nun is the fourteenth letter of many Semitic Abjads including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet ar ن (in Kaph (also spelled Kap or Kaf) is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Nun is the fourteenth letter of many Semitic Abjads including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet ar ن (in Although there are around one million Russian speakers in the country, almost the same number as Arabic speakers, there have not as yet been any Cyrillic ballot papers. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by

The system has the advantage of being incredibly simple to use for those with limited literacy. This is especially important in Israel where many new immigrants struggle with the language, especially reading and writing (as Hebrew uses a unique alphabet), and there are also relatively high illiteracy rates amongst the Bedouin. The Hebrew alphabet (אָלֶף-בֵּית עִבְרִי alephbet ’ivri) consists of 22 letters used for writing the Hebrew language. The Bedouin, (from the Arabic (ar بدوي pl badū) are a desert-dwelling Arab Nomadic pastoralist, or previously

Current ballot letters

The following (Hebrew) ballot letters were used in the 2006 election:

Historical ballot letters

The following ballot letters were used by historical parties:

Latest elections

Main article: Israeli legislative election, 2006

Past elections

See also

• Election
• Electoral calendar

External links

• Knesset Elections Results Knesset website (English)
• Adam Carr's election archive