There are currently 13 factions in the Knesset but a review of their platforms paints a bleak picture with regard to the democratic process.
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Only seven parties – the Likud, Labor, Meretz, Religious Zionist Party, Ra'am, and Joint Arab List factions Balad, Ta'al and Hadash – hold primaries. The rest see their leaders name people to the slate.
Why even bother with a party and its institutions? What control is there over its activities or its members? What is Yisrael Beytenu without Avigdor Lieberman? What will happen to Blue and White without Benny Gantz? Is there a future for Yesh Atid without Yair Lapid? And what will New Hope do without Gideon Sa'ar? These parties are essentially centralized mechanisms subject to the whims of one man.
Parties that hold primaries are not free of murky practices, namely the so-called "reserved slots," and this has proven to backfire, as Meretz learned the hard way not too long ago.
Israel should pass a law requiring any party represented or receiving public funds to hold primaries in order to maintain transparency. But this depends on Knesset members, most of whom were not elected in democratic elections, and all of whom are likely to oppose changing the current situation.
The Arab parties' democracy is also tainted. Balad, Ta'al and Hadash won't allow members who are not affiliated with them – organizationally and ideologically – to run in their primaries, nor do they have orderly bylaws.
This prevent the younger generation – fresh blood – from getting a foot at the door. Ta'al, for example, has had the same two candidates on the top of the list for 25 years. In Ra'am, the Shura Council must sign off on the slate.
In the Arab parties, an individual can't just join the party and recruit others, which is why they remain small.
The results of the internal elections in the Arab parties are predictable.
In Hadash, each MK has gets two terms, including the chairman, and the ethnic division is very clear: the top slot goes to a Muslim, the second to a Christian Arab, the thirds to a Jew, and the fourth to a Druze who did not serve in the IDF.
Ta'al has featured the same list for 23 years: Ahmad Tibi first, Osama Saadi – his brother-in-law, second, and the third slot, which has never been realistic, is reserved for a women.
Over in Balad, even longtime members cannot be bothered to pretend they care about the primaries, which guarantees that chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh is re-elected.
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