Proportional paralysis: Israel’s democratic trap

The votes are still being counted. The verdict is already in: no clear majority, no clear winner, and very little chance of either. Israel has voted once again, and once again it has produced a parliament that cannot govern.

This is not bad luck. It is the system.

A democracy that defeats itself

Israel elects its 120 lawmakers by pure proportional representation, in a single nationwide constituency, with a threshold of just 3.25%. On paper, it is the purest form of democracy: every vote counts, every voice is heard. In practice, it is a machine for paralysis.

The result is a Knesset splintered into a dozen parties, many of them tiny, some of them built around a single personality. To govern, a prime minister must stitch together fragile coalitions in which a party with a handful of seats can hold the entire country hostage. Kingmakers with marginal support dictate budgets, block reforms and topple governments. Five elections in less than four years between 2019 and 2022 were the proof. Tuesday’s deadlock is the reminder.

A system in which the tail wags the dog is not more democratic. It is less.

The reform no one wants

Everyone knows it. Experts have warned for decades. Proposals abound: a higher threshold, regional constituencies, a bonus for the largest party, direct election of the prime minister. Yet nothing changes.

Why? Because the people who would have to reform the system are the very people who profit from it. Small parties owe their existence to it. Party bosses owe their leverage to it. And lawmakers owe their comfortable lives to it: a salary of more than 47,000 shekels a month, around €12,000, nearly four times the national average, plus a car, aides and generous perks.

A country that cannot afford paralysis

This might be tolerable in a quiet country. Israel is not a quiet country.

Hezbollah is rearming in the north. Gaza remains unresolved, with Hamas refusing to disarm. Iran is threatening, and is threatened, with a new round of war. At home, Israelis are crushed by the cost of living: housing out of reach, groceries among the most expensive in the developed world.

These are not issues that can wait for months of coalition haggling, horse-trading over ministries and backroom deals with whoever holds the swing seats. Yet that is exactly what lies ahead.

Israelis turned out in record numbers on Tuesday. They did their part. The political class has not done its own.

Whoever ends up forming the next government, his first duty should be clear: fix the system that produced this mess. Not for his party. Not for his allies. For the country.

Otherwise, Israel will keep voting, and keep getting nowhere.