'In the Likud, the primaries system has shifted the party to the right'
Photo: Yaron Brener
Primaries are an anti-democratic farce
Op-ed: Most of the new members of Israel's large parties don't even vote for them; they are committed to vote contractors, who can sell their goods to the highest bidder. This invites corruption.
"Many of our members argue," a member of the Manhigut Yehudit
("Jewish Leadership") movement wrote, "that joining the Likud to get a candidate of ours into the Knesset can be seen as cheating, especially if we don't actually vote for the Likud. How does the rabbi see it?"
We are in the primary election season. There are a few things we should know about fraud posing as democracy.
The question was directed at Rabbi Uri Amos Sharky, who clarified in his response that "politics is a pragmatic game and parties are not personal but rather a technical organization." He added that "some rabbis support the move."
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The decision to allow all party members to choose the Knesset candidates had good intentions. Instead of a committee of wheeler dealers which determines the list's composition, a much wider selection which should be more decent and provide a better representation.
It has been clear for a long time that it has achieved the opposite result. But the large parties, which are holding their primary elections these days, are finding it difficult to bid farewell to the faulty method.
In real primary elections, there should be a connection between the party's voters, those who believe in its way and identify with it, and with those who elect the party's representatives on the Knesset list. There is a minority which belongs to this category.
The problem is with most of the new members. They don't represent the voters. They come from the areas of vote contractors. They are the friends and the neighbors and the grandmothers and the aunts. This invites corruption.
Manhigut Yehudit leader Moshe Feiglin. Infiltrated the Knesset through the Likud (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
When a large bloc – the Electric Corporation, Aerospace Industries or Ashdod Port workers – becomes influential, it's not because it identifies with the party. It's a pressure group which tries, and sometimes succeeds, to dictate a policy which suits a small sector, not a party which aims to rule the country.
Most of these members don't even vote for the party. They are committed to the vote contractor, who can sell his goods to the highest bidder. The percentage of voters from a certain community has nothing to do with the percentage of members from that same community. And that applies to all parties. There are also communities in which the number of members is higher than the number of voters.
In the Likud, for example, the primaries system has shifted the party to the right, because some of the vote contractors are operated by the far right. They infiltrated the Likud through Manhigut Yehudit. They took over a significant part of the votes.
This is the method which many here still refer to as "democracy." In the past, Knesset members initiated a bill forcing the large parties to hold primary elections. The problem is that even without a law, this anti-democratic farce is succeeding in its misrepresentation. It's a lie with a rabbinical permit. That's the reason why some of the Likud candidates sound more like the representatives of the Tkuma party and are even more rightist than Uri Ariel.
Primary elections could be something completely different. For example, linking the primaries to the Knesset elections. Every person who votes for the party fills in another form in which he or she marks the candidates they prefer to see in the Knesset. That way, all of the party's voters – rather than the vote contractors – get to influence the list of elected representatives.
The actual voting in the different communities could also be linked to their relative representation in determining the Knesset list. Another improvement could be to require a two-year membership in the party in order to vote for its Knesset list.
You're right, I have been told in recent years by senior members of all the parties which hold primary elections. But none of them has lifted a finger to change the system. And that's because they are afraid of the vote contractors themselves. A wrong word will cost them a fortune.
The situation has gotten out of hand. And this harmful situation must be brought to an end.
