The Forum for Political Reform in Israel was founded by the president of the Israel Democracy Institute, Dr. Arye Carmon, “due to the urgent need to generate significant improvement in the capabilities and functioning of the Knesset.”
The forum brings together retired judges and politicians, academics, businessmen and public figures to assess the viability of a number of proposed reforms to the electoral system, the government and the political party structure. The members will work together to formulate practical proposals for structural reform, with a special emphasis on strengthening the Knesset through fundamental changes to Israel’s electoral system.
The call to change the governmental system has been circulating in the public discourse for quite some time. This phenomenon is strengthened by the findings of IDI’s 2009 Israeli Democracy Index, which points to a worrying trend of erosion in the Israeli public’s confidence in most of the democratic institutions and structures, and reveals the publics rejection of politics. This trend could severely damage the legitimacy that the public must provide to its elected officials for Israeli democracy to remain stable and healthy.
The Forum for political Reform in Israel will carefully examine electoral and structural reforms aimed at repairing and stabilizing the systems upon which Israeli parliamentary democracy is based. The Forum’s recommendations will be presented to the Knesset for debate and implementation.
Chairman of the Forum
• Supreme Court President (ret.) Justice Meir Shamgar
Members of the Forum include:
Retired supreme court justices, academic experts, retired knesset members and knesset speakers, municipal public officials, former government secretaries, former director generals of the Prime Minister’s Office, public figures, university presidents, and business sector representatives.