News and Updates

'There is a wall now between the Israeli people and their government," MK Gideon Sa'ar told Likud Anglos at a briefing in Jerusalem, January 15, 2007. "There's no other democracy in the world where the government has such a dista nt relation to the people. The Knesset is not accountable to the voters and people feel that they have no real influence on decisions." An astounding 78 of the 120 Knesset members are not elected by voters at all, but appointed by party leaders, according to Sa'ar.

Sa'ar has introduced a bill, co-sponsored by MKs in the other two major parties, which would have half (60) of the Knesset directly elected by voters in local districts, while the other half would continue to be elected by party list. A Knesset elected entirely by region (as is done in many western democracies) might be most representative, Sa'ar said, but such a complete change in the Israeli system would not have enough political support to pass.

MK Sa'ar, Chair of the Likud Knesset delegation, believes that the current crisis of public confidence will create the support for electoral reform needed to overcome the opposition of the smaller parties and vested interests. Since Likud will likely head the next government, Sa'ar asked Likud Anglos to help convince our party and potential coalition partners to support the electoral reform bill, to make sure that support for the bill is written into the coalition agreement, and that the legislation is implemented in the first year after the election.

For more information on Sa'ar's bill and the fight for district representation, go to http://www.gideonsaar.com/ , or to the website of CEPAC http://cepac.org.il/site/ , a non-partisan group working on the issue.