Key Takeaways:
- In the U.S., you vote for a person to represent your district or state; in Israel, you vote for a party and that party’s preset candidate list determines who actually fills the seats it wins.
- In the U.S., Election Day settles it; in Israel, Election Day just starts the real negotiation. No Israeli party has ever won a Knesset majority outright, so a party leader must first cobble together a coalition of at least 61 seats before anyone becomes Prime Minister.
- Israel has no fixed election calendar and no written constitution governing elections. Unlike the U.S.’s fixed cycle, the Knesset can dissolve itself and trigger new elections at almost any time.
Israel will go to the polls on October 27 to elect a new Knesset, and ultimately to either re-elect its current Prime Minister or replace Benjamin Netanyahu with a new leader.
The Israeli electoral process and the structure of the government it chooses both differ greatly from the American system. While the Israeli system is quite complex, it is more easily understood by those familiar with the more well known American system by contrasting it with the methods and institutions of the United States.
Elections
In the United States, everyone knows when elections will be held for President and for Congress. We know today when Election day will be even 50 or 100 years from now – the first Tuesday after a Monday in November. Every other year for Congress (one third of the Senate) and every four years for Congress and the Presidency. This isn’t the case for Israel. In Israel’s system, there is a maximum term a legislature, known as the “Knesset”, can serve. However, the Knesset can dissolve itself at almost any time and trigger new elections for all 120 Knesset seats.
The election process is also much shorter in Israel. Generally speaking, Israeli election campaigns are approximately 100 days. In the United States, of course, the 2028 Presidential election will kick off in earnest as soon as the votes in the 2026 Congressional elections have been counted, if not earlier.
In the United States, members of Congress and Senators cover a specific geographic area and voters vote for a particular candidate to represent them. Members of Congress have a constituency of either a district or state they are elected to represent. While they all have national responsibilities, they have a local constituency to serve and they must be responsive to the wishes of their local constituents if they hope to remain in office.
In Israel, there are no local constituencies for the Knesset, and voters do not vote for any particular Knesset member. Voters instead vote for a party. When they go into the voting booth, they are presented with paper slips representing each of the dozens of parties running in the election (see the top line image of this piece). They choose the paper slip of their preferred party, place it in an envelope and deposit the envelope in a box. Based on the percentage of the total votes received – and a few overcomplicated vote sharing mechanisms – once all the votes are counted, each party receives a number of seats based on its share of the total vote.
If a party receives 10% of the total vote, they will likely receive approximately 12 seats, 10% out of 120 total seats in the Knesset. Who will actually sit in the Knesset is determined by the candidate list the party submitted ahead of the election. How each party chooses their list is up to the discretion and bylaws of the particular party. In this example, the first 12 candidates on the list occupy the seats won by the party, and become members of Knesset. Those lower down on the list do not.
What Happens After the Elections?
In the United States, Election Day and the days it takes to count all the ballots are the main show. While the United States does have the Electoral College process after Election Day for the President, it is generally a formality that confirms how the public voted on Election Day itself. In addition, while the President and Congress may be elected on the same day, they then, based on strict separation of powers, come into office separately and have separate Constitutionally enumerated powers.
In Israel, where the Prime Minister is the head of government and also a member of Knesset, that strict separation between executive and legislative does not exist.
In Israel, Election Day and vote counting are just the first steps. Once the parties have been allotted seats in the Knesset, the next step is for each party to visit the President where they will recommend who they support to form the next government and become Prime Minister.
The President is the Head of State of Israel, and the Prime Minister is the Head of Government, unlike the United States where the President is the single most powerful actor and serves concurrently as Head of State and Head of Government.
While the Israeli Presidency is largely ceremonial, the President can wield real power when there is a closely divided Knesset vote. Based on the recommendations the President receives from the parties, they give one member of Knesset, often the leader of the largest party, a mandate to form the next government. That is when coalition negotiations, often lasting many weeks, begin.
Forming a Coalition
Never in Israel’s history has any one party won an outright majority of Knesset seats. This means that after every election campaign, the person who would ultimately become Prime Minister has needed to negotiate with one or more other parties to reach the Knesset majority needed to approve their new government.
There are many things that can be up for discussion in the coalition negotiations. Often there is bargaining relating to aspects of the parties’ platforms and what issues will become priorities for the new government. Some issues will have to do with levels of spending or commitments on the diplomatic front. However, the one thing that is always a major sticking point is the allocation of ministries.
Unlike in the United States, where the elected President chooses their cabinet and the Senate simply has the right to advise and consent to the choices, in Israel the cabinet comes from the elected Knesset itself. Just as certain agencies such as State and Defense are considered the most prestigious in the United States, their counterparts are also in high demand in Israel. More senior coalition partners, those who have secured more seats in the elections, will demand the most prestigious ministries as conditions for joining the coalition.
This coalition system is why polls cannot be read simply by looking at individual party vote share. The leader of the party who receives the most votes will not necessarily become Prime Minister. The “bloc” or combination of parties that can reach 61 seats, are willing to work together, and are capable of reaching consensus on an array of issues and personal ministerial demands will ultimately form the next government.
Once the horse trading is complete, if the member of Knesset designated by the President has the support of parties representing at least 61 members of Knesset, they will announce they have been successful and the new government will be sworn in. If they are unsuccessful in the time allotted by the President there are three main possibilities. 1. They can ask the President for an extension for more time to negotiate; 2. The President can designate another member of Knesset and give them the opportunity to form a coalition; 3. There is a stalemate and the country heads back to another round of elections.
The third possibility, another set of elections, is not something Israel had experienced until quite recently, when on several occasions in a row, no coalition was formed and there were several national elections in a single year. When no coalition is formed, the current government, and current Prime Minister, remain in office, but will have somewhat limited powers as the leaders of a temporary or provisional government.
Conclusion
The Israeli system of electing its leaders is unique. While this piece demonstrates its difference from how the United States operates, you would not find a system that truly matches Israel’s anywhere else in the world.
There has long been talk within the country of making changes, and occasionally changes have been made – Prime Ministers were briefly directly elected, and the minimum vote thresholds needed for a party to enter the Knesset have shifted up and down over time. Unlike the United States, Israel has no written constitution to enumerate how elections are held. The rules and regulations are all either legislative or bureaucratic. That may change in the future, but for 78 years, this is how Israel has chosen its leaders. As much as Israel’s system can be confusing, even to Israelis, one thing is not up for debate…Israel has always been, and remains, a vibrant democracy.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
