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Dateline Jerusalem — One week to the day after Americans elected
their President, Israel held local elections for mayor and city council, the major one being in Jerusalem, but important in other smaller cities as well.
The election for Prime Minister is scheduled for January. Prime Minister in Israel would be
equivalent to U.S. President. However, Israel also has a President, an office that used to
be more of a figurehead than anything else. The operative words are "used to be."
Nowadays the President of Israel is not just involved in ceremonial functions, but is very active.
The election process in Israel is very different than the U.S. The Knesset is
the legislature, and every interest group seems to have its own political party. For
example, there are several religious parties because of the various different
religious affiliations.
One for You, One for Me
There is a party for pensioners, one for environmentalists, one for anti-religious,
and a party for just about any view from left to right on the political spectrum. All in
all, there are over 20 political parties!
In general elections, you do not vote for a candidate, but for a party. Because there are
so many parties, not one group ever seems to be able to run the government on its own.
So, those elected play political games with one another to benefit the interests of
their particular party members. As a result, coalitions form. When no one can agree,
then there is a breakdown in the system, necessitating new elections.
Technically, the last election for Prime Minister was in 2006.Because it is a
four-year term, it is not supposed to occur again until sometime in 2010.
But, just as it takes a coalition to make a government, coalitions fall apart, and now the election will be held January.
I Vote for Here and for There
Israelis tend to be political by nature, having an interest in not only their own
elections, but those in the U.S. and other countries. Americans living in
Israel voted for U.S. President by overseas absentee ballot. Because my ballot
did not arrive in a timely manner from Los Angeles County, it cost me
approximately $20 to send it back via Express Mail so that it would
arrive before Election Day.
In Israel you do not have to be a member of any particular political
party in order to vote. However, if you want a say-so in who will represent
the particular political party, then you must be a member of that party for
at least six months beforehand to vote in the party's election. Confused yet?
In order to vote, you take a card that had been mailed to you, to the location
of your voting precinct. Usually, voting is set up at schools. The kids
love it because they get a day off from school while the parents frantically
try and find babysitters to watch them while they are at work.
Outside, there tables representing the various parties and candidates with
literature about their agendas. For me it was particularly confusing because
although I knew the party and person I wanted for mayor and city council,
the ballot did not have either the party name or person's
name (mayor and city council tend to be people not party as in the general election).
You vote according to a combination of alphabet letters that seem to have
nothing to do with anything. Considering I am at a loss for Hebrew,
this made it very difficult because beforehand I figured out how to read
the name and party of those I would vote for, and then none of that mattered.
Luckily the tables outside had literature indicating the alphabet designations of the
various candidates and parties. The voting is not done by ballot. To
vote for mayor and city council, there were yellow and white pieces of paper
sitting in trays in the voting booth.
You choose the paper slips that you want and deposit them into an
envelope, seal it, and drop it into a box.
When you get the envelope, you leave the voting precinct workers your
identity card, and you get it back after you vote. If a candidate
does not get a majority of votes, run-off elections are held two weeks later.
Now that I understand the system a little bit better, hopefully I will
be a pro by the time January comes around.
L'hitraot. Shachar
Shachar is the Hebrew name of a California-based attorney and former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy who moved to Israel last year.
