Monday, July 23, 2012

Kadmia MKs try to jump ship to the Likud; Another sign that the electoral system is irrevocably broken

The events of today, and in fact the events of past year where the Likud has been trying to get Kadima MKs to defect exposes the complete bankruptcy of the current electoral system in Israel.

Israel has a list based election system. You don't vote for any individual person but you vote for a party list. Given that, it makes no sense to allow any Knesset member to leave his party and and form a new one or switch to an existing one. He was not elected and it is not his seat. The party was elected and the party should control the seat. If an MK doesn't like it let him resign. The current system is the worst of both worlds. There is no personal accountability, you cannot vote anyone out of office, if they are high on the list they will be in the Knesset. On the other hand the MK's can do whatever they want with the seat once they get it. This is a formula for disaster and is anti-democratic.

I have a few posts about this topic from a few years ago, unfortunately there has been a lot of talk but no action.
The electoral system in Israel is broken ...
Election reform in Israel

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