Israel 2009

[Jens]

The Israeli electoral system (but also greater and greater difficulties to have stable majorities in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovakia, Czech rep., Baltic states, etc.) makes the British first-past-the-vote system appear to be the best one in the world.

You mean having a party with a large majority in parliament (55%) with 35% of the votes is the best. Sure, much better to avoid giving dissatisfied votes representation than having to deal with opposition. That is probably why turnout is sooo high in FPTP-systems (61% UK to 87% in DK, 77% in N & 78% in G).

[Jens]

The Israeli electoral system (but also greater and greater difficulties to have stable majorities in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovakia, Czech rep., Baltic states, etc.) makes the British first-past-the-vote system appear to be the best one in the world.

You mean having a party with a large majority in parliament (55%) with 35% of the votes is the best. Sure, much better to avoid giving dissatisfied votes representation than having to deal with opposition. That is probably why turnout is sooo high in FPTP-systems (61% UK to 87% in DK, 77% in N & 78% in G).

PR is good in countries that are stable electorally, but not in those that are unstable.

It's more about respecting the rules of democracy. PR fx makes it possible in times of crisis to have a parliament that reflect public opinion. FPTP makes it very impossible for new political forces to break through.

[Jens]

As expected, the supreme court reinstated Balad (9-0 decision) and Ra'am-Ta'al (8-1).

Good thing - the ban was really bad timing (And I oppose bans anyway)

[Jens]

Anywhere I can follow the results?

[Jens]

Not sure whether they're any better or worse than American ones, but they've always seemed to be pretty bad...

Anywhere I can follow the results?

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1063105.html

Thanks