The Labor party and Kadmia are falling all over themselves in a congratulatory stupor that neglects to mention that Tzipi Livni is going to be the next Prime Minister of Israel without having to suffer the bother of getting elected by the voters.
Several hours after Ynet published the main clauses of the apparent coalition deal between Kadima and the Labor party, both sides are claiming victory.
Labor Chairman Ehud Barak’s associates admitted that they were unable to secure all their demands, yet still claimed that Labor was able to obtain a large part of its initial requirements. However, officials in Kadima are insisting that the concessions made by the party in order to bring Labor into the government are insignificant.
Only the author is signaling a slight misgiving. But not the way you think.
Now, all that is left is to see whether the agreement reached over the past month between Barak and Livni will be maintained given Israel’s complex political reality, as well as the very different character of the Kadima and Labor leaders.
My Israeli friends, you are being had. You need to fight for the reform of your system. Two unelected Prime Ministers in a row? You have got to be kidding me.
Update: Soccer Dad points out that Olmert was elected. My bad. So it’s only one unelected PM.
Olmert was elected. First he filled out the remainder of Sharon’s term, than he ran as head of the party. I realize that Sharon had started gearing up for the election, but Olmert ran as head of Kadima.
It’s a parliamentary system and so the fact that the head of the government wasn’t his party’s leader at the last election isn’t the same as it would be in ours. It happens frequently–Canada has had prime ministers like that, so has the UK.
This is not to excuse Israel’s overall political situation, which at least proves that to the extent groups can be said to have certain talents, it’s pretty clear that among Jewish talents, practical politics isn’t one of them.
SoccerDad, please check again. I do not think that Olmert ever ran. Sharon’s stroke occurred just weeks into his term, and Israel’s constitution allows for four years between elections and more time in case of emergencies.
I think that four years will only be up early next year.
chsw
chsw:
See here for example.
OK. I was wrong.
chsw
While Olmert did run for office via Kadima, his role as the incumbent itself illegal as Sharon had been elected as the head of the Likud party
Sharon had no right to remain in office once he left the Likud. It required a corrupt deal with the AG to let Sharon hold office even though he had left the party that had actually won office
Olmert inherited Sharon’s role even though it should have been Netanyahu who took office once Sharon left Kadima
had the law been followed, that election at least would have been rather different
The worm in the apple of Israel’s politics is the system of proportional representation. This system, which the Third and Fourth French Republics and the Weimar Republic also used, is designed to produce unstable governments and large numbers of freaky, splinter parties. A system of election districts with first-past-the-post-wins eletions, as in the US, France’s Fifth Republic, and the UK, is more conducive to stable government. It has its own problems, of course, but at least manages to produce a government that can govern.
As I recall Olmert became Kadima party leader because he was Deputy Prime Minister and the Israeli Supreme Court ruled Sharon’s incapacity was temporary. Permanent incapacity would’ve required a party primary to choose a new leader.