Petitions bearing the signatures of half a million Israelis demanding reform of the electoral system were delivered to President Chaim Herzog on Monday, as Israel marked the 42nd anniversary of its independence.
Indicative of a swiftly growing grass-roots movement, the petitions were brought to the doors of the president’s official residence here in cars, pickup trucks and other vehicles.
They were carried into the reception room in all manner of boxes, parcels and envelopes, to be deposited before a chief of state who is him- self firmly committed to the principle of reform.
Herzog, in fact, devoted much of his televised Independence Day address to the subject.
“The political process as it unfolds before us has become unacceptable in the eyes of many,” the president said, in a clear allusion to the efforts by both major parties to establish governing coalitions.
He spoke of mounting public disgust with the spectacle of back-room bargaining, deal-making and outright political bribery that have characterized those efforts on both sides since the Likud-Labor unity government was toppled March 15.
“There has almost never been so overwhelming a public protest. The citizen who has the democratic right to choose his representatives freely cannot react calmly when political machinations make an absolute mockery of the principles of democracy and lead to distortions unworthy of a free society,” Herzog declared.
Nevertheless, the president, whose office is non-political but prestigious and influential, has been careful not to lean toward any specific plan for reform. He stressed only that all movements toward that goal should follow democratic guidelines.
Herzog is aware that plans abound and that while the reformers may agree in principle on the need to change the system, differences prevail among them as to how.
Under the present system, voters cast ballots for party lists, which are awarded Knesset seats in proportion to the size of their vote.
DISPROPORTIONATE BARGAINING POWER
The system has effectively prevented either of the major parties from winning a governing majority, thereby placing disproportionate bargaining power in the hands of small factions of unrepresentative, narrow-issue groups.
Some reformers want Herzog to appoint a presidential commission to devise an alternative system. Others want the Knesset to name the experts.
At the same time, there are signs of mounting distrust of all politicians.
As Herzog noted in his address, there have been calls for electoral reform since the era of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, who warned of a “catastrophe” unless officeholders were made directly accountable to the voters.
But until now, the movement for reform has been largely unfocused.
What seems to have captured the public imagination and media attention this time around is the current political vacuum and the activism of a group of Israel Defense Force combat veterans.
It began last month, when IDF reserve Lt. Col. Avi Kadish and two fellow reserve officers began a monthlong hunger strike outside the Knesset building.
The three were soon joined by other IDF reservists, including Maj. Eliad Shraga, who staged his own hunger strike outside the president’s residence.
Then, on April 7, over 100,000 Israelis gathered outside Tel Aviv City Hall in a massive demonstration for reform.
Kaddish wants the Knesset to pass a law authorizing the president to appoint a commission for electoral reform.
“We are no experts. We want to force the Knesset members to appoint the experts, who will come up with the solution,” he said Monday.
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