Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit (Likud) presented his committee's recommendations for his party's electoral reform today, including a proposal that he hopes will be legislated into law even before the upcoming election 23 days from now.
The proposed legislation states that any party with over 15 MKs must choose its Knesset candidates via countrywide primaries. Prime Minister Sharon, who supports the idea, said today, "It is important that this law be passed as soon as possible." The committee also recommends that the Likud allow only veteran members of at least 30 months to vote and be elected, and that its Central Committee members who were chosen by the "old" method be disqualified.
Minister Sheetrit advised the Labor Party as well to "clean out its stables" by instituting similar changes. He noted that Labor has also had its share of "improprieties," including falsified results in the Druze sector in a recent internal election and the presence of "candidates high up on the Labor list" who have not answered police investigators' questions about illegal campaign associations.
Labor Party MKs called Sheetrit's plan an "election gimmick," and said that there is no way that such a law could be passed by the current Knesset. Knesset Committee Chairman MK Yossi Katz (Labor) said he would act to prevent the bill from being tabled in the current Knesset. Likud MK Moshe Arens, a member of the Sheetrit Committee, is also against the proposals. "There is no reason to rush so fast with these types of ideas," he said. "It took us six years to extricate ourselves from the last mess we made with the direct election of the Prime Minister, so this time we had better measure our steps more carefully."
The Maariv newspaper editorialized today that legislating changes in the major parties’ internal election systems is not likely to provide any solutions. The paper said that such tinkering with the electoral system is like “putting a band-aid on a slashed artery,” and calls instead for fundamental changes in the country’s political consciousness.
The proposed legislation states that any party with over 15 MKs must choose its Knesset candidates via countrywide primaries. Prime Minister Sharon, who supports the idea, said today, "It is important that this law be passed as soon as possible." The committee also recommends that the Likud allow only veteran members of at least 30 months to vote and be elected, and that its Central Committee members who were chosen by the "old" method be disqualified.
Minister Sheetrit advised the Labor Party as well to "clean out its stables" by instituting similar changes. He noted that Labor has also had its share of "improprieties," including falsified results in the Druze sector in a recent internal election and the presence of "candidates high up on the Labor list" who have not answered police investigators' questions about illegal campaign associations.
Labor Party MKs called Sheetrit's plan an "election gimmick," and said that there is no way that such a law could be passed by the current Knesset. Knesset Committee Chairman MK Yossi Katz (Labor) said he would act to prevent the bill from being tabled in the current Knesset. Likud MK Moshe Arens, a member of the Sheetrit Committee, is also against the proposals. "There is no reason to rush so fast with these types of ideas," he said. "It took us six years to extricate ourselves from the last mess we made with the direct election of the Prime Minister, so this time we had better measure our steps more carefully."
The Maariv newspaper editorialized today that legislating changes in the major parties’ internal election systems is not likely to provide any solutions. The paper said that such tinkering with the electoral system is like “putting a band-aid on a slashed artery,” and calls instead for fundamental changes in the country’s political consciousness.