Electoral College in Yisrael

The Electoral College in Yisrael is a body of electors established by the 1952 Royal Reform Acts, constituted every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president of the Kingdom of Yisrael. The Electoral College consists of 192 electors, and an absolute majority of 96 electoral votes is required to win the election.

Each District legislature decides the method by which its electors are selected. In contrast to other electoral college systems abroad, Yisraeli law binds the electors to the winner of their District and thus avoids the problem of faithless electors. All eight Districts allocate their full cachet of Electoral Votes to the winner of the plurality majority of votes cast in the presidential election inside their jurisdiction. Within seven days after the final votes have been tabulated, each District's electors assemble in their District capitals and vote as pledged.

Distribution of Electoral Votes by District

District	Population	Knesset Seats	Extra EVs	Final Electoral Vote Count
Northern District	454,098	3	10	13
Dervaylik District	1,302,885	9	10	19
Central District	6,874,231	48	N/A	48
Western District	5,412,976	38	N/A	38
Southern District	881,935	6	10	16
Yerushalayim District	1,431,566	10	10	20
Eastern District	3,483,677	24	N/A	24
Yarden Valley Special District	632,713	4	10	14

Two-party presidential system

As part of the the series of electoral reforms rolled out in the 1952 Royal Reform Acts to restrict extremist parties from re-entering Yisraeli political life, the Royal Knesset legalized fusion voting, whereby minor parties could cross-endorse the major parties' presidential nominees.

The effect of this measure was that second- and third-tier left-wing, right-wing, and centrist parties with representation in the Knesset could pool their votes towards one of the "first-tier" parties - either the Constitutional Liberal Party or the Royalist Conservatives. This created a de facto two-party system in presidential politics.

Elections since 2004

Third-party impact

A list of second- and third-tier parties and their cross-endorsements and electoral impact since 2004:

Party Name / Political Position	Cross-endorsement?	Major-Party Endorsed	District(s) Where Third-Party Contributed 5%+ Of the Vote To Major-Party	Current Knesset Seats
Action Yisrael (Center-to-Center-right)	2016: Yes 2012: Yes1	2016: Royalist Conservative Party 2012: Constitutional Liberal Party	2016: Central, Eastern, Western, Yerushalayim, Dervaylik, Southern 2012: Central, Dervaylik, Western, Eastern	12
Alliance of Greens, Seculars, and Workers (Left-wing)	2016: Yes 2012: Yes2 2008: Yes2 2004: Yes2	2016: Constitutional Liberal Party 2012: Constitutional Liberal Party 2008: Constitutional Liberal Party 2004: Constitutional Liberal Party	2016: Central, Dervaylik 2012: Central, Dervaylik, Southern 2008: Central, Dervaylik, Western, Eastern 2004: Central, Dervaylik, Western, Eastern, Southern	8
League for New Judea (Right-to-Far-right)	2016: Yes 2012: Yes 2008: No3	2016: Royalist Conservative Party 2012: Royalist Conservative Party 2008: None	2016: Northern, Yarden Valley, Yerushalayim, Eastern, Western 2012: Northern, Yarden Valley, Eastern 2008: N/A	5
National Union Party (Right-wing)	2004: Yes4	2004: Royalist Conservative Party	2008: Northern, Yarden Valley, Eastern	04 (Party no longer in existence)
Torah Achdus (Right-wing)	2016: Yes 2012: Yes5 2008: No5 2004: No5	2016: Royalist Conservative Party 2012: Royalist Conservative Party 2008: None 2004: None	2016: Yerushalayim, Yarden Valley, Central, Western, Eastern 2012: Yerushalayim, Yarden Valley, Central, Western, Eastern 2008: N/A 2004: N/A	16
Yisraeli Christian Association6 (Center-to-Center-left)	2008: Yes 2004: Yes	2008: Constitutional Liberal Party 2004: Constitutional Liberal Party	2008: Northern, Yarden Valley, Eastern, Western, Yerushalayim 2004: 2008: Northern, Yarden Valley, Eastern, Western, Yerushalayim	06 (Party no longer in existence)

Notes
1. Action Yisrael was founded on May 24th, 2009.
2. The Alliance of Greens, Seculars, and Workers formed after the 2012 general election from the Yisraeli Labor Party and Green Party; however, cross-endorsements prior to 2012 are grouped together as both the YLP and GP cross-endorsed the same major party in these years.
3. The Northern League was moribund from the late 1980s until 2006, winning no seats in the Knesset and polling at less than 1% nationally and less than 10% in the Northern and Yarden Valley Special Districts. After the 2006 elections, David Touro won its leadership contest and rebuilt the party, entering Knesset in the 2008 elections as well as winning 5% of the national vote. However, neither party thought much of the League's rebranding and did not believe it would enter the political scene as a viable third-party. However, after its increasing gains in 2008 and 2010, the party was courted by both major parties. Touro eventually sided with Noah Feldman and the Conservatives.
4. The National Union Party merged with the Royalist Conservatives in 2006. The Northern League is thought to have picked up part of its political base with the League's rebuilding in 2006 and 2008.
5. Until the 1990s, the Torah Achdus party was a transactional swing bloc whose votes were chased by both major parties. Although ideologically right-wing, the party's leadership prioritized state benefit and services procurement over ideology, and would align with whichever party would offer more benefits to the Chareidi community. A new, younger generation took the reins starting in the '90s and starting to trend towards the Conservatives, though the elder party statesmen still favored the party's longtime transactional electoral posture. These forces controlled the party executive committee (which issues endorsements) and cut a deal with Eitan Herzog and the Con-Libs to not endorse at all (otherwise the party faithful would demand a cross-endorsements of the Conservatives) in return for stronger kollel subsidies to Chareidi yeshivos and other benefits. However, this faction was ousted after the party lost ground in the 2008 election in the Knesset and District and local governments. A new Conservative-allied faction, the "New Chareidi," took control of the party leadership and began to cross-endorse the Conservatives since 2012.
6. The Yisraeli Christian Association was found to have illegal ties to anti-Yisrael terrorist groups the Christian Defense League and the Free Yarden Valley Catholic Front in the aftermath of the 2011 Yericho riots. Its MKs were arrested by the YeMep and the party banned under the Domestic Subversive Organizations Act before the 2012 elections.

See also

• Government of Yisrael
• Presidency of Yisrael
• Politics of Yisrael
• Party divisions of the Yisraeli Knesset