The Knesset is expected to approve a law next week which will raise the threshold of popular votes needed from 1.5% to 2.5% in order for political parties to earn representation.
The new law effectively dictates that parties falling short of three Knesset mandates will not receive any seats in the Knesset. The higher threshold will affect the Arab parties as well as the smaller parties currently in the Knesset. The new law is expected to cause the Arab parties to unite on one parliamentary list that could get more Knesset seats than today’s total of eight Arab seats.
MK Taleb A-Sana, of the United Arab List responded to word of the new law with anger. “This is not an initiative but a conspiracy intended to enact ethnic cleansing in the Knesset,” A-Sana said. “Our response will be to form one united Arab party.”
Had the law been introduced prior to the previous election three parties would have been excluded from the current Knesset. The parties are Natan Sharansky’s Yisrael Ba’aliyah (which has since merged with the Likud), the United Arab List, and Balad.
The bill is scheduled for approval by the Knesset Constitutional Committee next week, and is expected to easily pass with the votes of members from the government coalition. The 2.5% cutoff was a figure reached based on a compromise among coalition members – with the threshold levels proposed ranging from 1-5%.
Last election, smaller parties such as Herut received enough votes for a single Knesset seat but were not granted representation in the current Knesset due to the two-seat minimum requirement.
Many hope the new law will provide Israel’s government with increased stability. “The religious parties and Arab parties will each have to unite, there will no longer be splinter parties, and this will stabilize the political system,” said MK Eliezer Cohen (National Union).
The new law effectively dictates that parties falling short of three Knesset mandates will not receive any seats in the Knesset. The higher threshold will affect the Arab parties as well as the smaller parties currently in the Knesset. The new law is expected to cause the Arab parties to unite on one parliamentary list that could get more Knesset seats than today’s total of eight Arab seats.
MK Taleb A-Sana, of the United Arab List responded to word of the new law with anger. “This is not an initiative but a conspiracy intended to enact ethnic cleansing in the Knesset,” A-Sana said. “Our response will be to form one united Arab party.”
Had the law been introduced prior to the previous election three parties would have been excluded from the current Knesset. The parties are Natan Sharansky’s Yisrael Ba’aliyah (which has since merged with the Likud), the United Arab List, and Balad.
The bill is scheduled for approval by the Knesset Constitutional Committee next week, and is expected to easily pass with the votes of members from the government coalition. The 2.5% cutoff was a figure reached based on a compromise among coalition members – with the threshold levels proposed ranging from 1-5%.
Last election, smaller parties such as Herut received enough votes for a single Knesset seat but were not granted representation in the current Knesset due to the two-seat minimum requirement.
Many hope the new law will provide Israel’s government with increased stability. “The religious parties and Arab parties will each have to unite, there will no longer be splinter parties, and this will stabilize the political system,” said MK Eliezer Cohen (National Union).