Amid the ongoing political crisis over the formation of the government in Israel, preparations are underway to change the method of selecting the prime minister. The opposition coalition parties are considering bringing in legislation for direct election of the Prime Minister. According to Hebrew media reports, the proposal aims to find a way to form a minority government without the support of Arab parties. Under the proposal, voters will be able to directly vote for the Prime Minister instead of electing a government. That means there will be a separate election for the selection of the Prime Minister.
In this system, a candidate who wins a direct election can form a minority government even if he does not have a majority in the parliament. With this, there will be no need to take the support of Arab parties to form the government. In fact, after Tuesday’s election, no coalition in Israel has won a majority in parliament. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition nor his opponents have reached a majority in the Knesset, the 120-member parliament. For this reason, there is a political deadlock over the formation of the government.
Before this, Netanyahu has also given such a proposal
The idea of directly electing the Prime Minister is not new in Israel. Netanyahu also made a similar proposal after the elections held in March 2021. Even then no one got a clear majority after the election. Netanyahu himself could not muster the necessary support to form a government. After this he suggested direct election of the Prime Minister.
The support of 61 MPs is required to change the law
The process of forming a government in Israel is governed by the country’s semi-constitutional law, the Basic Law: The Government. According to this law, before any new government can be sworn in, it must receive a vote of confidence in the 120-member Knesset. Therefore, this law has to be amended to implement the system of direct election of the Prime Minister. This requires the support of at least 61 MPs. That means the opposition parties have to gather majority in the parliament.
Currently, this proposal is at the stage of discussion among the opposition parties. It is not yet clear whether it will be tabled in Parliament and whether it will get the necessary support. If the law changes, the current method of electing a prime minister and forming a government in Israel may change.
