May I ask for five minutes of your time?
The Foundation for Constitutional Democracy in Jerusalem is conducting an annual poll concerning Israel’s political institutions.
Your answers to the questions asked in this poll will be correlated with Freedom House’s 800-page volume Freedom in the World. Freedom House lists 89 countries which it classifies as “free democracies,” and of these democracies 26 are smaller in size and population than Israel. Bearing this in mind, please answer the following questions:
- In Israel, the entire nation constitutes a single electoral district in which various party lists, representing diverse ethnic, religious, and ideological groups, compete for Knesset seats on the basis of Proportional Representation. Citizens therefore vote for a party list, not for an individual candidate.Which do you prefer: voting for
(A) a party list or for (B) an individual candidate? ( ) - In Israel, no party has ever won a majority of seats in the Knesset. A coalition of Knesset members representing rival parties is therefore necessary to form the government. One alternative to this system of coalition cabinet government is a presidential system. In this system, no member of the legislature can be a member of the president’s cabinet. It may sometimes happen, however, that the president’s party may not have a majority of seats in the legislature.Which do you believe would be better for Israel:
(A) coalition cabinet government or (B) a presidential system? ( ) - Do you believe that the government of Israel more or less represents the will of the people?Yes ( ) or No ( )
Thank you very much for answers.
