Külügyi Szemle - A Teleki László Intézet Külpolitikai Tanulmányok Központja folyóirata - 2003 (2. évfolyam)
2003 / 1. szám - KÖZEL-KELET - Gazdik Gyula: The evolution of the Israeli party system
The evolution of the Israeli party system Israeli war and - consequently - the ethnic and cultural dissimilarities of the two communities became more conspicuous. The interaction of the two Jewish group's contrary orientation became ostensible in the political sphere also after the victory of the Likud Party in 1977. Moreover, the rift between the two Jewish groups and their relations with respect to the Arab population in the occupied territories - coupled with the resulting conflict - seriously damaged the social cohesion in Israel. These processes directly or indirectly influenced the evolution of Israeli parliamentarism. Legal frameworks, the general traits of the party system Israel is one of those countries, which do not have a written constitution. A compromise reached between the ultra-orthodox and the nationalist groups vis-ä-vis the goals of Zionism created a status quo on issues involving state and religion and postponed the formulation of a constitution. However, in June 1950, they adopted a resolution empowering parliament to endorse each constitutional paragraph individually and to accept in principle the resulting document as the country's constitution. The first and foremost law adopted in 1958 had been designed to regulate the functions of the 120-member national assembly. Subsequently - by the middle of the 1990s - 10 new basic laws had been created.4 The 120-member single chamber parliament is officially elected for four years through general, proportional, direct and secret balloting. In special cases the organ can dissolve itself and set the date for fresh elections. The 1992 party protocol permitted the candidature of only officially registered groups. In the case of the establishment of a party, the platform must adopt the declarations of the State of Israel including the inviolability of Israel and its democratic character and be devoid of racist overtures. All Israeli citizens are enfranchised upon the completion of their 18th year and candidates for parties, party coalitions, party lists and independent blocs must be at least 21 years old. Elections are held nationwide by universal, direct suffrage, with secret balloting. Traditionally, the candidate for the electoral list with the most mandates formed government. This practice was amended in 1992: the by-election for the premiership was held separately and parallel to the balloting for party list candidates. By contrast to the party list ballots, the contest between the premiership candidates significantly intensified. Hence, the rivalry of the various parliamentary political factions enabled the new prime minister to choose any coalition combination for the sake of a viable government. However, in the case that the party fared less well, additional concessions had to be granted to the coalition partners, which jeopardised the government's stability. Since the election law introduced in 1996 evoked wide-scale disapproval, a resolution was passed in March 2001 to espouse the previous method of party list 2003. tavasz 35
