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Electoral Reform
Suffers Setback
Jerusalem (JTA) —
Legislation aimed at reform-
ing Israel's much-criticized
electoral system is facing an
uphill battle in the Knesset.
Although the legislation
has broad support across
party lines, Likud backing
for the reforms has eroded in
recent days, following in-
dications by Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir that he is
inclined to oppose the draft
bills now in committee. -
The bills call for direct
election of the prime min-
ister.
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Some political observers
predict the measure will die
for lack of support at the top.
Most agree that prospects for
passage before the next
statutory elections, still a
year away, have dimmed.
Nevertheless, the reform
lobby is not ready to concede..
Seyeral pro-reform groups,
including the Association of
American and Canadian
Immigrants, published large
newspaper advertisements
this week demanding that
Mr. Shamir and his
lieutenants honor past
pledges to allow Likud
Knesset members to vote
their conscience on the issue,
regardless of the party
leadership's position.
Those pledges were
secured by vigorous public
lobbying last year and early
this year.
While the opposition Labor
Party is firmly committed to
the proposed reforms, the
small parties in the Likud-
led coalition, fearful of los-
ing influence, and possibly
their seats in the Knesset,
oppose them.
If Mr. Shamir throws his
weight behind the reforms'
opponents, or if the party
formally decides to oppose
reform, only a handful of
Likud Knesset members are
likely to break party
discipline —hardly enough
to secure the 6 1-vote
minimum a constitutional
measure needs to become
law.
Likud, of course, is aware
that the popularity of elec-
toral reform is directly
related to widespread voter
disgust with the present
system.
The public's disaffection
began with the collapse of
the Likud-Labor unity
government in March 1990.
Because neither major party
commanded sufficient
Knesset mandates to govern
alone, they turned to the
small Orthodox parties,
granting those parties in-
fluence far beyond their
electoral strength.
Many Israelis were furious
that the coalition-making
machinery was effectively
controlled by an Orthodox
rabbi in Bnei Brak, Eliezer
Schach, and his arch rival in
Brooklyn, the Lubavitcher
rebbe, Menachem Schneer-
son, who has never set foot
in Israel.
Israelis were also repelled
by the tactics of Finance
Minister Yitzhak Moda'i's
short-lived splinter party,
"The Movement for the
Zionist Ideal," which sat on
the fence until the last mo-
ment, making threats and
demands of both major par-
ties, before falling back into
the Likud camp.
Such spectacles could be
eliminated if voters cast
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Many Israelis were
furious that the
machinery was
controlled by an
Orthodox rabbi in
Bnei Brak and his
arch rival in
Brooklyn.
direct ballots for prime min-
ister, effectively ending a
candidate's dependence on
the support of splinter fac-
tions.
But the opposition to
reform is by no means con-
fined to politicians who may
have a vested interest in the
old system.
Some leading academi-
cians believe the direct elec-
tion of the prime minister
would be an inappropriate,
disruptive change in a
system that is based on the
British concept of Cabinet
government closely accoun-
table to parliament, rather
than the American system of
separate legislative and ex-
ecutive branches.
Some political scientists
say more stable govern-
ments could be achieved by
raising the "threshold" for
entry into parliament.
At present, a party needs
to poll only one percent of
the popular vote to win a
Knesset seat, compared, for
•example, to Germany, where
the entry level is 5 percent.
Another frequently
discussed reform proposal is
the introduction of an ele-
ment of constituency or
district voting into Israel's
national proportional repre-
sentation system.
But that idea is not
presently under active con-
sideration.
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