February 27, 2020

Wait Just a Minute: Arye Carmon on Israel’s Elections

Israeli voters will head to the polls on Monday just two weeks before current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial begins. Arye Carmon, founding president of the Israel Democracy Institute and author of "Building Democracy on Sand: Israel without a Constitution," takes a minute to explain why Israel is holding elections for the third time in a year and predict whether the fourth round of elections is possible.

Wait Just a Minute: Arye Carmon on Israel’s Elections

Why is Israel holding elections for the third time in a year?

Our political system has been in crisis for quite some time. It started in the night in the late 1990s where the major political parties had been disintegrated, and instability is an outcome of the breaking up of big parties into mid-sized parties that are prone to a lot of extortion by small parties. So, right now, we are faced with two blocks, None of which is able achieve what is needed to form a coalition, meaning at least 61 sitting in our Parliament.

Do you foresee a possible fourth round of elections?

I don't think so, because right now there is a date to the beginning of the trial of Netanyahu, which is March 17. And I think that this may affect certain things that create a stumbling block to creating a coalition from both sides of the aisle. So I think, I suspect, I would predict that no.

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