Knesset
This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
The Royal Knesset of the Kingdom of Yisrael ההכנסה המלכותית של ממלכת ישראל | |
---|---|
Type | |
Type | |
Leadership | |
Majority Leader of the Knesset | |
Minority Leader of the Knesset | |
Structure | |
Seats | 142 |
Political groups | HRM Government (85)
HRM Opposition (42)
Other Opposition (15)
|
Elections | |
First-past-the-post voting | |
Last election | January 27, 2020 |
Meeting place | |
Yerushalayim, Yisrael |
The Royal Knesset of Yisrael is the unicameral national legislature of the Kingdom of Yisrael. It is the legislative branch of the Kingdom and its territories. It currently has 142 members, who are elected directly by citizens who are registered voters on the 1st of Shevat on even years of the global secular calendar.
The Knesset is charged with lawmaking, declaring war or authorizing military force, the power of the purse, creating or eliminating public services, the oversight, investigation, and impeachment of sitting government officials, ratifying treaties, and providing the advise and consent for presidential appointments.
Legislation may be introduced by an individual Member of Knesset (MK) or groups of MKs. Per its parliamentary model, it elects the Leader of the Knesset from its largest or governing party after each election. The Knesset must have an election every two years. Every four years, the presidential election is run concurrently alongside the Knesset's.
The Knesset is widely-known for its unruly, polarized political atmosphere and unstable deal-making.
History
Role, powers, and duties
Members and elections
Qualifications
To qualify to run for the Knesset, one must be:
- A registered voter;
- Aged 24 or older;
- A resident of the Knesset constituency that the candidate is running for at a minimum of six (6) months;
- Free of a felony conviction, or if not, having had obtained a pardon by the President of Yisrael (federal felony) or District governor (non-federal felony).
Elections
The 142 members of the Knesset (MKs) are popularly elected from individual single-member electoral districts using plurality voting to concurrent two-year terms. All Yisraeli citizens 21 years or older who are properly registered to vote and not disqualified due to criminal convictions or other limiting factors may vote in legislative elections, which are conducted by secret ballot.
Officers
The party leadership of the Knesset consists of the Majority and Minority Leaders of His Royal Majesty's Government and Opposition, respectively. These positions evolved from the first sessions of Knesset under the constitutional era in the early 1920s, emerging from questions over the 1920 Constitution's mention of the Knesset being presided over by the "Leader of the Knesset," a role and description which was left frustratingly vague.
The ascendant Constitutional Liberals who took an early majority in the first of the empowered Knessets determined the "Leader of the Knesset" to be the "Majority Leader of the Knesset," which would be held by the leader of the majority party or coalition in the unicameral chamber. From this, an implied "Minority Leader" of the official opposition was also recognized by 1924.
The chairmen and -women of the various Knesset committees are also considered "Knesset officers," and these are determined by the ruling party/coalition (who control the organization of each committee). The ruling power chooses internally which of their members on the committee will fill these seats from time to time.
The current Majority Leader is Binyamin Goldschmidt (RC), who has held this position since January 11th, 2016. The current Minority Leader is Reuven Goldschmidt (AFY), who has held this role since January 27th, 2020.
The current 49th session of Knesset is the first time both party leaders have the same surname.
Legislative procedure
Current composition
Parliamentary composition since 2004
Knesset | Years | Knesset | President | Governing Majority Party | Margin of Majority Control | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RCP | CLP | TA | AY | AfY1 | AGSW | LNJ | Ind. | Vacan cies | |||||||
49th | 2020-2022 | 64 | 14 | 19 | 17 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Yitzchok Katz | Blue-Silver-Maroon coalition | +43 (to UCB's 42 seats)/ +28 (to all minority parties) | ||
48th | 2018-2020 | 59 | 42-321 | 16 | 12 | 0-101 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Noah Feldman | Blue-Gray-Maroon coalition | +4/ +20 (with supply and confidence from Torah Achdus) |
Knesset | Years | Knesset | President | Governing Majority Party | Margin of Majority Control | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RCP | CLP | TA | AY | AGSW | LNJ | Ind. | Vacan cies | |||||||
47th | 2016-2018 | 64 | 39 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 2 | Noah Feldman | Blue-Maroon coalition | +32 | ||
46th | 2014-2016 | 41 | 66 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | Gold-Gray-Green-White coalition | +5 | |||
45th | 2012-2014 | 64 | 48 | 16 | 5 | 43 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Blue-Silver coalition | +8 |
Knesset | Years | Knesset | President | Governing Majority Party | Margin of Majority Control | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RCP | CLP | TA | AY4 | GP | YLP | LNJ | YCA5 | Ind. | Vacan cies | |||||||
44th | 2010-2012 | 58 | 51 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 46 | Eitan Herzog | Blue-Silver coalition | +2 |
Knesset | Years | Knesset | President | Governing Majority Party | Margin of Majority Control | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RCP | CLP | TA | GP | YLP | LNJ | YCA | Ind. | Vacan cies | |||||||
43rd | 2008-2010 | 52 | 60 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | Eitan Herzog | Gold-Green-Pink-White coalition | +1 | ||
42nd | 2006-2008 | 577 | 577 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 08 | 4 | 5 | 0 | Gold-Green-Pink-White coalition | +17 |
Knesset | Years | Knesset | President | Governing Majority Party | Margin of Majority Control | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RCP | CLP | TA | GP | YLP | NUP | YCA | Ind. | Vacan cies | |||||||
41st | 2004-2006 | 46-4510 | 66-6710 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Eitan Herzog | Gold-Green-Pink coalition | +4/+510 |
Footnotes
1. The Alternative for Yisrael split off from the Constitutional Liberal Party on November 7, 2019, at the end of the 48th term of Knesset and about two months from the 2020 general elections. 10 sitting Con-Lib MKs defected to the new party.
2. Torah Achdus neither sat in the opposition nor had a supply and confidence agreement with the ruling Conservatives.
3. The smaller Green Party and Yisraeli Labor Party merged together on February 8th, 2012, three weeks after the 2012 elections, combining their 4 seats (3 Greens, 1 Labor Party).
4. The Action Yisrael party was formed on May 24th, 2009, in advance of the 2010 elections.
5. The YCA 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.
6. None of the vacancies resulted in a change of partisan affiliation. All the seats were filled by persons of the same party.
7. Vice-President Joshua Lieberman would often be required to stay on premises for Knesset votes to cast the deciding vote due to the evenly-split Knesset between HRM Government led by the Con-Lib-Green-Labor-YCA-Indep. coalition (71) and HRM Opposition of the Conservatives and their allies the Torah Achdus party (71).
8. The Northern League, although in existence since 1974, had no won any seats since the 1980s. The party had a leadership election in February 14th, 2006, and elected David Touro as party chairman. Touro rebranded the party as "far right lite" and moderated the more extreme stances of the party as well as recruited credible right-wing activists and buildt needed campaign infrastructure in the Yarden River Valley and ethnic Tarsan Jewish areas to field successful candidates for the next election cycle.
9. The right-wing National Union merged with the Royalist Conservatives several months before the 2006 elections.
10. Avigdor Korvo, an MK from Ashkelon, party-switched several days after the election from Conservative to Con-Lib and was given a prominent role on the Knesset Appropriations Committee.