The Middle East region is characterized by its complexity. That is why in order to better understand its main events, it is necessary to break down this area not only by geographical criteria, but also by cultural, economic, and political aspects. In this sense, this brief analysis will limit its framework to Israel, in particular, in the political arena.
The Knesset, the Israeli congress, was supposed to hold national elections in 2017; however, the parliament was dissolved by most of its members and an early election was scheduled for this Tuesday, March 17th. In other words, Israel carried out a parliamentary dissolution, which can be defined as the termination of a legislature’s term. Following the dissolution will be a general election in which all members of the parliament must stand for office. A general election refers to a national election in which all seats in the legislature are contested. Therefore, a prime minister, who is the head of both the majority party or coalition, and the head of the executive branch in a parliamentary system, will be elected as well -- not through popular vote, but through a coalition building in the congress.
After having generally introduced the topic of this article, it is important to outline the principal components which will make up the report: a description of the type of the electoral system Israel has, the primary contenders playing in this legislative election, and some of the issues the next government is going to face when taking office.
To begin, unlike bicameral parliaments, such as used in the United States, in which the legislature is made up by a lower and an upper chamber, Israel’s is unicameral. In addition, as a parliamentary democracy, the Israeli government --the head of state-- depends on a legislative majority for its survival. Nevertheless, this task is not so straightforward as it might seem. The fact that this country has a proportional representation and a multi-party electoral system means that several parties might enter the Knesset, but only the largest ones will decide who forms the government. The odds are low for a majority government to be elected, in which the chief political executive is made up of a single party that controls a majority of the seats. There is a high likelihood of a coalition government, in which the head of the congress is formed by various parties that collectively reach a minimum winning coalition, and as a result hold legislative majority.
To gain further perspective on Israel’s political landscape, this report must look at the contenders who have important roles in this particular election. For example, according to recent polls published on Haaretz (2015), although there are twelve leaders of different parties who have a real chance to win a considerable quantity of the 120 seats, just seven are getting a notable role: Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home), Ayman Odeh (Joint List of Hadash and Arab factions), Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu), Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), Tzipi Livni (Hatnua), Yitzhak Herzog (Labour Party), and Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud). Nonetheless, only the last three candidates can potentially become prime minister (Allen, C., Sanz, R., & Furst, D., 2015). To illustrate, Mr. Netanyahu is the present-day prime minister of Israel, who “is currently running for his fourth term, and his third consecutive one” (Kordova, 2015). Also important is Mr. Herzog, who is the main rival of Mr. Netanyahu, and who is “currently leader of the opposition in parliament and co-leader of the centre-left Zionist Union electoral alliance” (BBC News Middle East, 2015b). This party is made up by both the Labour Party and Hatnua, which is the political group represented by Mrs. Livni --Netanyahu's former justice minister.
Ultimately, both internal and external issues are waiting for the next prime minister of Israel. On one side, in regard with the international community, Israel should enhance its diplomatic performance on the world stage. In particular, this country needs to repair relations with the United States, solve problems with Palestine, and confront security conflicts regarding Iran. Otherwise, the international criticism toward Israel will continue. On the other side, on the national level, some challenges of government will be the fast-growing social inequality and the rising cost of living, which has been portrayed by high-price housing and food. The last issue seems to be the most important in the context of this election, but the economy is not a top priority for some candidates.
In brief, the bottom line is clear: even though it is more than likely that the seven political parties mentioned above will be over the required electoral threshold (a mandated minimum share of the vote that a party must win in order to be eligible for representation in the form of seats), neither the Zionist Union (an alliance between the Labor Party and Hatnua), nor Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud will have enough seats to choose the next prime minister. This fact will trigger certain effects in terms of electoral strategies in the Knesset. For example, generally speaking, prime ministers have unilateral authority to distribute portfolios as they see fit. Yet this probably will not be the case in Israel after this election day, because the cabinet will not be allocated among legislators of the same party. Consequently, the policy area for which every cabinet minister is going to be responsible will be a crucial point in the next parliamentary bargaining. Furthermore, one has to keep in mind that the management of public policies is not simply an issue under debate in an electoral process; citizens really want problem-solving politics.
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