Democracy assistance & elections news from the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS)
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Country Profile:

Upcoming Elections

  • Presidential
    2014
  • Parliamentary
    2017

Israel

Description of government structure:

  • Chief of State: President Shimon PERES *
  • Head of Government: Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU
  • Assembly: Israel has a unicameral Knesset with 120 seats.

* The president is largely a ceremonially role.

Description of electoral system:

  • The President is elected by parliament to serve a 7-year term.
  • The Prime Minister is designated by the president to serve a 4-year term.**
  • In the Knesset 120 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

** After parliamentary elections, the president will usually select a prime minister that he/she feels has the best possibility of forming a new government.

*** There is a two percent threshold required to gain representation. All candidates run in one, nationwide district.

Population:

  • Population: 7,590,758 (July 2012 est)

Future elections

  • Parliamentary - 2017
  • Presidential - 2014

Past elections

Last Updated on 06/20/2012

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