Electoral College in Yisrael

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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.

History

Electoral Reform

Southern compromise

Since 1954

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

Electoral College results

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)

2020: Yes
2016: Yes
2012: Yes1

2020:
Alternative for Yisrael
2016:
Royalist Conservative Party
2012:
Constitutional Liberal Party

2020: Central, Eastern, Western, Dervaylik, Southern
2016: Central, Eastern, Western, Yerushalayim, Dervaylik, Southern
2012: Central, Dervaylik, Western, Eastern
12
Alliance of Greens, Seculars, and Workers
(Left-wing)

2020: Yes
2016: Yes
2012: Yes2
2008: Yes2
2004: Yes2

2020: Constitutional Liberal Party
2016: Constitutional Liberal Party
2012: Constitutional Liberal Party
2008: Constitutional Liberal Party
2004: Constitutional Liberal Party
2020: Central, Dervaylik, Southern, Eastern, Western
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)

2020: Yes
2016: Yes
2012: Yes
2008: No3

2020:
Royalist Conservative Party
2016:
Royalist Conservative Party
2012:
Royalist Conservative Party
2008:
None

2020: Northern, Yarden Valley, Yerushalayim, Eastern, Western
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

2004: Northern, Yarden Valley, Eastern
04
(Party no longer in existence)
Torah Achdus
(Right-wing)

2020: Yes
2016: Yes
2012: Yes5
2008: No5
2004: No5

2020:
Royalist Conservative Party
2016:
Royalist Conservative Party
2012:
Royalist Conservative Party
2008: None
2004: None
2020: Yerushalayim, Yarden Valley, Central, Western, Eastern
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: 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-endorsement 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.

Criticism

See also