The Mapai Parliamentary faction decided last night to give full support to a bill proposed by a Mapai leader for a national plebiscite for revision of the present election system.
The bill, offered by Joseph Almogi, Member of Knesset and secretary of the Haifa Labor Council, would set the plebiscite at a date before the next national elections in July but there was a move under way to change the date to October.
Knesset members now are elected on a nation-wide proportional representation system. The revision would eliminate the small parties and give Mapai a larger majority. Most parties oppose any change while the General Zionists, who would probably become the major opposition party if the small parties were eliminated, has proposed a compromise between a proportional and a constituency system.
Despite Prime Minister David Ben Gurion’s enthusiastic support, the Almogi bill was given only a slim chance of passage in the Knesset. Mapai leaders hoped to obtain a majority for the first reading of the measure with promises of a favorable attitude toward compromise amendments when the bill comes up for discussion by the Knesset legislative committee prior to the final reading.
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