For those of my followers not familiar with the Israeli election system here is a short and simple explaination:
Israel is a parliamentary democracy. Voters do not elect a president or prime minister directly. Instead they elect the Knesset (parliament), which has 120 seats. The prime minister is then chosen by the parties that can form a majority coalition in the Knesset.
Voting:
- The whole country is one single constituency (no districts).
- You vote for a party list (a fixed list of candidates), not for individual people.
- A party must get at least 3.25% of the valid votes to enter the Knesset. Parties below that get nothing (their votes are “wasted”).
The Seats:
Seats are allocated proportionally: the more votes a party gets, the more seats it receives.
The exact method used is called the Bader-Ofer method, it slightly favors larger parties when leftover seats are distributed (e.g. for parties not making the electoral threshold mentioned above).
Forming a Government:
No party usually wins a majority of 61 seats on its own. Therefore the largest parties negotiate with smaller ones to form a coalition that has at least 61 seats. The leader of the largest party in that coalition normally becomes prime minister.
In short: You vote for a party. Parties get seats according to their vote share (if they clear 3.25 %). Then the parties that together have 61+ seats form the government.
For those of those not familiar with the Israeli election system here is a short and simple explaination:
