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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Israel
Index
The 1964 Basic Law provides that the president is the titular
head of state
(see
fig. 10). The president is elected through
secret balloting by an absolute majority of the Knesset on the
first two ballots, but thereafter by a plurality, for a term of
five years. Israeli presidents may not serve more than two
consecutive terms, and any resident of Israel is eligible to be a
presidential candidate. The office falls vacant upon resignation or
upon the decision of three-quarters of the Knesset to depose the
president on grounds of misconduct or incapacity. Presidential
tenure is not keyed to that of the Knesset in order to assure
continuity in government and the nonpartisan character of the
office. There is no vice president in the Israeli governmental
system. When the president is temporarily incapacitated or the
office falls vacant, the speaker of the Knesset may exercise
presidential functions.
Presidential powers are usually exercised based on the
recommendation of appropriate government ministers. The president
signs treaties ratified by the Knesset and laws enacted by the
legislature except those relating to presidential powers. The
president, who has no veto power over legislation, appoints
diplomatic representatives, receives foreign envoys accredited to
Israel, and appoints the state comptroller, judges for civil and
religious courts, and the governor of the Bank of Israel.
Although the president's role is nonpolitical, Israeli heads of
state perform important moral, ceremonial, and educational
functions. They also play a part in the formation of a coalition
cabinet, or "a government" as the Israelis call it. They are
required to consult leaders of all political parties in the Knesset
and to designate a member of the legislature to organize a cabinet.
If the member so appointed fails, other political parties
commanding a plurality in the Knesset may submit their own nominee.
The figure called upon to form a cabinet is invariably the leader
of the most influential political party or bloc in the Knesset.
As of 1988, all Israeli presidents have been members of, or
associated with, the Labor Party and its predecessors, and all have
been considered politically moderate. These tendencies were
especially significant in the April 1978 election of Labor's
Yitzhak Navon, following the inability of the governing Likud
coalition to elect its candidate to the presidency. Israeli
observers believed that, in counterbalance to Prime Minister
Begin's polarizing leadership, Navon, the country's first president
of Sephardi (see Glossary)
origin, provided Israel with unifying
symbolic leadership at a time of great political controversy and
upheaval. In 1983 Navon decided to reenter Labor politics after
five years of nonpartisan service as president, and Chaim Herzog
(previously head of military intelligence and ambassador to the
United Nations) succeeded him as Israel's sixth president.
Data as of December 1988
Figure 10. Government System, 1988
The President
The 1964 Basic Law provides that the president is the titular
head of state
(see
fig. 10). The president is elected through
secret balloting by an absolute majority of the Knesset on the
first two ballots, but thereafter by a plurality, for a term of
five years. Israeli presidents may not serve more than two
consecutive terms, and any resident of Israel is eligible to be a
presidential candidate. The office falls vacant upon resignation or
upon the decision of three-quarters of the Knesset to depose the
president on grounds of misconduct or incapacity. Presidential
tenure is not keyed to that of the Knesset in order to assure
continuity in government and the nonpartisan character of the
office. There is no vice president in the Israeli governmental
system. When the president is temporarily incapacitated or the
office falls vacant, the speaker of the Knesset may exercise
presidential functions.
Presidential powers are usually exercised based on the
recommendation of appropriate government ministers. The president
signs treaties ratified by the Knesset and laws enacted by the
legislature except those relating to presidential powers. The
president, who has no veto power over legislation, appoints
diplomatic representatives, receives foreign envoys accredited to
Israel, and appoints the state comptroller, judges for civil and
religious courts, and the governor of the Bank of Israel.
Although the president's role is nonpolitical, Israeli heads of
state perform important moral, ceremonial, and educational
functions. They also play a part in the formation of a coalition
cabinet, or "a government" as the Israelis call it. They are
required to consult leaders of all political parties in the Knesset
and to designate a member of the legislature to organize a cabinet.
If the member so appointed fails, other political parties
commanding a plurality in the Knesset may submit their own nominee.
The figure called upon to form a cabinet is invariably the leader
of the most influential political party or bloc in the Knesset.
As of 1988, all Israeli presidents have been members of, or
associated with, the Labor Party and its predecessors, and all have
been considered politically moderate. These tendencies were
especially significant in the April 1978 election of Labor's
Yitzhak Navon, following the inability of the governing Likud
coalition to elect its candidate to the presidency. Israeli
observers believed that, in counterbalance to Prime Minister
Begin's polarizing leadership, Navon, the country's first president
of Sephardi (see Glossary)
origin, provided Israel with unifying
symbolic leadership at a time of great political controversy and
upheaval. In 1983 Navon decided to reenter Labor politics after
five years of nonpartisan service as president, and Chaim Herzog
(previously head of military intelligence and ambassador to the
United Nations) succeeded him as Israel's sixth president.
Data as of December 1988
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