By intensive efforts which included transporting members from sick bed, Premier Golda Meir’s Labor Party today managed to eke out the required 61 vote majority to pass a bill in the Knesset that will lead to limited direct elections in Israel, beginning in 1977. The measure, introduced by Labor MK Haim Zadok, passed its first reading 61-45 with the opposition coming mainly from Gahal, the religious parties and splinter factions that stand to lose seats or even disappear under a system in which at least part of the Knesset is elected directly by regional constituencies rather than appointed from party slates. Three MKs abstained.
The Zadok bill envisages a mixed regional-proportional representation system in which a majority of the 120 Knesset seats would be filled through regional elections and the balance under the present national system. Another bill will be required to put the new system into effect. It would specify the number of constituencies, how many Knesset members from each and the procedures for nominating and electing them.
Arguing in behalf of his measure, Zadok said elections were held in a parliamentary democracy to produce a stable government and a responsible opposition which could legislate efficiently. The present system, he said, created tiny factions which had no prospect whatsoever of becoming significant factors in managing the affairs of state and this made the government dependent on the favor of minor coalition factions.
Dr. Yohanan Bader of the Gahal faction denounced the bill. He charged that the sole intention of the Labor Party in pressing for it was to achieve an absolute majority which has eluded it in all elections to date.
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