Knesset Adopts Electoral Reform Bill, First Measure to Alter Voting System

The Knesset adopted Israel’s first electoral reform bill Wednesday by a sweeping vote of 52-23.

It provides for the direct election of the prime minister and, although not applicable to the upcoming elections on June 23, it could be in voked before the next statutory elections in 1996.

The controversial measure passed its third and final reading on the last day of the current session of the parliament and was in fact the last piece of legislation enacted by the outgoing 12th Knesset.

Its passage was assured when Likud freed its members to vote their conscience on the measure. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who had originally favored reform, turned against the proposed bill last year.

But he reversed himself again apparently because the legislation came too late to effect the June elections but not too late to regain for Likud the support of the Tsomet party.

Tsomet, a far right-wing faction with two mandates in the outgoing Knesset, is headed by Rafael Eitan, who joined Shamir’s coalition as minister of agriculture last year.

Eitan, unlike the leaders of most other small parties, was deeply committed to changing the way Israel elects its leaders. When Shamir refused to allow a free vote on the reform bill, Eitan quit the government in December.

Now that reform has become law, he announced he wants to return, and it is clear his support will be welcome in what promises to be a hard-fought election campaign.

The Cabinet is expected to vote Sunday to reappoint Eitan agriculture minister. The Knesset will be called into special recess session next week to give its endorsement, as required by law.

CABINET SIZE IS LIMITED

The new reform measure provides for two simultaneous elections every four years, one for Knesset members and one for prime minister.

The Knesset elections will continue the present system by which voters choose a party list. Each party’s strength in the Knesset is determined by its percentage of the vote.

Under the present system, the president calls on the head of the party with the largest Knesset delegation to try to form a government. If he succeeds, he becomes prime minister.

But under the new legislation, the prime minister will be elected directly by separate ballot and will automatically form a government.

The government will need the Knesset’s approval, however, in order to take office. That provision, appended to the bill as it made its way through the legal committee, reduces somewhat the powers it originally invested in the prime minister.

Nevertheless, the leading advocates of reform were jubilant Wednesday, embracing and backslapping after the final vote.

Uriel Lynn, Likud chairman of the Law and Justice Committee, said enactment of election reform provides “an alternative” if, after the June elections under the old system, the country “finds itself once again up a blind alley.”

The bill also stipulates that the Cabinet can have no more than 18 members. The outgoing Cabinet originally had 20 members.