Split-Ticket Voting in Israel

Abstract

T IS BEYOND DEBATE that the focus of poltical power in Israel is at the national level. Politically and administratively, local government in Israel is dependent on the political parties and the government ministries which operate from the center.' Israeli politics, for historical and structural reasons, has always been dominated by national, rather than local, power. Since before the establishment of the state in 1948, an agrarian, almost anti-urban ideology has dominated the important political parties of the country.2 The relatively small size of the country and the newness of the settlers tended to prevent the establishment of regional sectional bases of cleavage. This lack of local autonomy coincided with the establishment of most of the Jewish settlements in Palestine, especially between the two world wars, by such national institutions as the Jewish Agency and the Histadrut, and, after independence, by the government itself.3 Since the establishment of Israel in 1948 the institutional map of local government has changed considerably. In 1948 there were 13 municipalities and 23 local councils, a total of 36 organized Jewish local authorities; by 1966 the total had jumped to 98 Jewish authorities, with 24 municipalities and 74 local councils. By 1966, only 0.3 percent of the Jewish population was not organized under an elected local authority.4 In electing both his national and local representatives, the voter casts his ballot for a list of candidates proposed by a political party rather than for individual candidates directly. The party receives mandates in national and local elections in proportion to the total number of votes it obtains. Since it is unusual for one party to win an absolute majority in the elections, an intense process of bargaining to form the ruling coalition at both the national and local levels follows closely upon the publication of the election results.5 This bargaining process is usually very complex and again demonstrates the dependence of local government on the national parties: coalition agreements in municipalities and local councils are often dictated by the political needs of the national party. It is not unusual for the coalition deliberations concerning many local authorities to be held simultaneously, headed by the officials of the various parties responsible for municipal affairs. The arrangements which will affect the local government are often deter-