[EM] Introductory Message

[Doreen Dotan]

B"H

 

Hello. I'm Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan and I live in a town called Tzfat, which is the Galilee of Israel.  I’m still a passport-carrying US-born citizen, although I assumed Israeli citizenship about a year after arriving here twenty-one years ago.  I am a citizen of Ireland as well.

 

I am not a political scientist of any kind, most certainly not a psephologist, but I do see that the system of elections in Israel is in dire need of overhaul, and I have been reading a bit about alternative systems of voting recently for the purpose of trying to find a system that can be most readily and best adapted to the Israeli political reality.

 

Having considered the material available on the net rather more than perfunctorily, but not having really delved into the subject matter as yet, my reaction is that some form of cardinal ratings would suit our system best.  

 

The Israeli voter is wont to imagine herself or himself a good deal more sophisticated politically that she or he really is.  Another factor that I must take into consideration is the fact that the Israeli government is very intrusive in the life of the citizenry, this is a left-over from our socialist days.  Almost all jobs, other than the most menial, are a result of either nepotism or political affiliation and loyalty, or both. Voters will do as they are instructed by their parties (and bosses). Oddly, this does not present a paradox in the mind of the swaggering Israeli who imagines herself or himself very politically sophisticated indeed.  Tampering with the tallying of the ballots is not unusual.

 

The Israeli educational system produces people who are singularly weak in math.  The voting system must be relatively simple, or the average Israeli will be intimidated by it or forced to depend on the honesty of a sophisticated few who can tally a complicated system of voting, a wholly unacceptable, and unrealistic, state of affairs.  Additionally, we still use paper ballots. For those reasons I think that Condorcet, whatever its advantages may be, is not suited either to our electoral system, or to the mentality of Moshe Felafel (our equivalent of Joe Six-Pack).

 

I would like to see voter ratings on a scale of 1 – 10 for the PM.  This would give a fairly accurate idea of how popular the person voted to be Prime Minister is among the electorate at the end of the election.  

Presently we vote for the parties that comprise the Knesset separately from the PM.  I should like to see voter ratings of 1 – 120 (120 corresponding to the number of seats in the Knesset) for the parties that are contending for seats in the Knesset.  Thus, theoretically, one party could hold every seat in the Knesset (of course this scenario is well nigh impossible, but the possibility should exist).  This voting procedure would not only determine which parties will comprise the Knesset, and how many seats they will have, but will do away with the present system of parties having to pass a 1.5% threshold of votes in order to have any representation at all (see http://tinyurl.com/22woe).

 

I do not expect that the Israeli electorate will vote sincerely in the first few elections of CR is introduced.  They will, almost undoubtedly, try to “beat the system” and skew things such that they receive an outcome like the ones they have been accustomed to.  However, after having lived with the results of their own outsmarting themselves a few times I believe that they will begin to vote more sincerely.  The opportunity for the ultimate freedom of voting expression and sincerity should be granted even if it first it is not appreciated or used wisely and well.

 

Are any of the members of the group familiar with the Israeli voting system?  I would appreciate your reactions, comments and suggestions.

 

Doreen

 

 

 



The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.

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