IDI's Forum for Political Reform in Israel was established by IDI President Dr. Arye Carmon in September 2009 in response to "the urgent need to generate significant improvement in the capabilities and functioning of the Knesset." Since then, the Forum has been bringing together leading academicians, retired judges and politicians, public figures, and businessmen to formulate practical proposals for structural reform, with a special emphasis on strengthening the Knesset through fundamental changes to Israel’s electoral system.
Headed by IDI Senior Researcher Prof. Gideon Rahat of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IDI's team of ten researchers formulated a series of recommendations for political reform. Their work was based on a rigorous analysis of the performance of Israel's political system since the founding of the State and on a comparative study of the performance of 35 developed democracies throughout the world. It should be noted that the principle underlying the work of this group is that parliamentary democracy is the only political system that can properly represent the varied groups, beliefs, opinions and desires in Israel's multicultural society.
At each stage of work, the IDI research group presented its recommendations to the members of the Forum for Political Reform in Israel. Established by IDI in September 2009, the forum and its committees were comprised of approximately 100 senior figures of the Israeli political and legal system, including retired Supreme Court justices, former ministers and former Knesset members, CEOs of government agencies, and public figures.
Key Recommendations
The proposed reforms presented to the Knesset are based on the work of a research team headed by IDI Senior Researcher Prof. Gideon Rahat of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Professor Rahat’s team of ten researchers based their recommendations on a comparative study of Israel's political system and best practices from 35 other democracies.
Among the Forum's key recommendations:
- Introducing incentives to promote internal democracy within parties
- Supervising registration for party membership
- Changing the format of the electoral ballot
- Gradually raising the electoral threshold from its current 2%
- Increasing of the number of active members of the Knesset
- Limiting the number of ministers and deputy ministers by law
- Granting "first right" to form a coalition to the head of the largest Knesset party
- Requiring a viable alternative government for toppling a reigning coalition
- Redefining the relationship between government ministers and ministry professionals
- Introducing a system of regional representation to Israeli parliamentary elections
Full text of the booklet of recommendations submitted to the Knesset (English)
Full text of the booklet of recommendations submitted to the Knesset (Hebrew)