Israel’s Election System 101: All you need to know from voting to coalition governments

As Israel heads into elections next week, many non-Israelis, and even a few Israelis, are wondering how the Israeli elections actually work.

Much of campaigning in Israel focuses on the personalities leading the various parties. re-election coverage often focuses on these figures who could become the next prime minister of the Jewish state.

However, despite all the focus on personalities Israelis don’t actually elect their leaders directly—they elect parties.

So how does the Israeli election system work?

Israel uses a nationwide proportional representation system with closed party lists to elect members to the Knesset, the country’s unicameral, 120-seat parliament.

Voters cast ballots for these party lists, not for individual candidates. Knesset seats are allocated to each party in proportion to their share of the national vote. This contrasts with Western countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, in which voters select a candidate. Germany, which gives a vote for a candidate and a second vote for a regional parties, represents a sort of mix of the two different systems.

Due to the election of parties, not candidates, Israeli Knesset members are accountable to their parties, not to the voters. Members who frequently vote outside of party norms can be removed by the party.

The parties must pass a threshold of 3.25%, which is roughly equivalent to four seats in the Knesset. Votes for parties which do not meet this threshold are discarded, and the parties do not receive any representation in the Knesset.

This mechanism incentivizes smaller parties to merge, run joint lists or be absorbed into larger parties so they stand a higher chance of passing the threshold.

This threshold is designed to prevent fragmentation while allowing broad representation. In practice, it also leads to “surplus” seats, which are distributed among the successful parties using a largest averages method.

Because many parties usually enter the race — this time 38 — a single party rarely garners enough votes to win an outright majority in the Knesset, leading to the formation of coalitions along ideological lines.

Competing interests among these coalitions has often led to the dissolution of the Knesset before the full parliamentary term. The current coalition government is one of the few to have completed a full term.

The coalition system sometimes gives smaller parties a large amount of influence, for instance, if their withdrawal would collapse the coalition. Prime ministers often have to leverage competing interests of coalition parties to prevent a collapse.

By law, a Knesset term is four years and new elections are scheduled, usually in the Hebrew month of Cheshvan (October-November). However, a collapse of the a coalition government can be triggered either by failure to pass a state budget, a successful opposition bill to dissolve the Knesset or a vote of “no confidence” by at least 61 Knesset members (MKs), leading to early elections.

In the latter scenario, if an opposition party is able to form a new coalition of at least 61 members, they can establish a new government to serve out the remaining Knesset term. If no new coalition is formed, new elections are scheduled.

How voting works

Unlike many other Western democratic systems, in Israel there are no electoral districts. The entire country is one district and Knesset members theoretically represent the interests of the entire country.

In reality, maps of previous elections have revealed strong geographical voting patterns based on the populations of the various communities.

Large urban areas such as Tel Aviv and its suburbs tend to favor more centrist or liberal parties, while religious and other smaller communities tend to favor right-wing or religious parties.

In the north, where much of Israel’s Arab population lives, voters favor the Arab parties such as the Joint List (a collection of Arab parties running together in order to pass the election threshold) or Ra’am, a party loosely associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Prior to the elections, some parties conduct internal primaries while other lists are determined by the party’s leader. After the elections, members are taken from the list in order of ranking up to however many seats the party won.

On election day, voters entering the ballot box are presented with paper slips representing the various parties. They choose the slip corresponding to the party they want, place it in an envelope and deposit it in the ballot box.

As in the United States and many Western nations, the voting age in Israel is 18.

Israeli law requires in-person voting, only on election day, except in several unique situations. Diplomats and other government officials abroad are granted the right of absentee voting, while IDF soldiers are allowed to vote early, to ensure that security issues do not disrupt their right to vote.

Forming a government

After the elections, the Israeli president chooses one of the parties with the most votes to attempt to form a governing coalition. This happens after consultations with representatives of the parties elected to the Knesset.

While the party with the largest number of votes is often tasked to form a coalition, sometimes the president will select another party he believes capable of forming a governing coalition.

The process of forming a working coalition can be arduous, lengthy and wrought with political deal making. The law calls for an initial round of 28 days, which can be extended by the president for another 14 days.

If the selected party fails to achieve a working coalition, the president then selects another party which has 28 days to try but without an extension.

If both rounds are unsuccessful, 61 Knesset members (a simple majority) can petition the president to give the task to a third party which gets 14 days to form a coalition.

If this also fails, new elections will be scheduled.

However, if any of the three rounds are successful, a coalition agreement is signed between the parties and a special session of the Knesset is convened. During this session, the prime minister designate presents the members of the coalition and defines its policy agenda.

A vote to accept the new government is then held, requiring a simple majority to pass.

During the past two decades, this coalition-building process has never been completed in the first round.