The left knows it is going to lose in the next election, this is a way for it to keep itself in power!

What Israel needs is 100 MKs elected in regional elections. Let's put power squarely in the hands of the people.

No doubt Shas will oppose this , i mean that would mean democracy for the people and they wouldnt be able to milk the state dry for every last sheckel or directing tax payers money $131, 000,000 to be presise for their "education system" as well as forcing their lifestyle on the general public any more and we cant have that can we?

The country should be divided into constituencies who elect 2 candidates responsible to that region in the Knesset and not by party affiliation. I say 2 reps because this will end party monopolization and give each region a chance for a wider range of its constituency to be respresented in government.

let them bring our voting system into the 21st century and get voting machines. Our system of taking these little slips and putting them in an envelope is befitting third world banana republics not the HiTech capital of Asia and Europe combined

What about independant candidates for the regions? Why should a candidate be affiliated with a political party? That's the way to "open" the system and attract more competant leadership. The parties could use a little competition anyway - I mean, it's not like they've been doing such a good job.

Good question Rich (No. 2). All MK's should be elected by the people and not by party lists. I always ask who represents me in the Knesset ?

And it is that pork barrel system of party politics which is the most corrosive pollutant in Israel politics today. This isn't reform... it's merely a minor variation on a theme of political insanity.

For those of you who are not familiar with this political term, the dictionary definition is, "an arbitrary arrangement of the political divisions of a State made so as to give one party an unfair advantage in elections." Gerrymandering, can, however, have positive aspects. An example would be to make sure that Arab districts had sizeable Jewish voters as well as Arabs. Thus, Arab candidates would be obliged to moderate their positions or lose votes. Another example is Jerusalem where some gerrymandering could reduce the influence of the Haredim, also having a moderating influence. What should be avoided at all costs is any party having a "lock" on a district because of demographics. The creation of electoral districts should be public, transparant, independant of political influence (as much as possible), & create as much competition as possible. Those with the most to lose will complain the loudest but the general interest will be better served.

Terry you said it but as soon as the Knesset members realize the risk they will squash this bill.

As they say in the British Parliament when they want to agree.

I'm willing to bet it won't pass! These clowns in the Knesset would be voting themselves out of a job! BTW why not elect all 120 by direct elections, not only 60? Let have a true democracy. The leader of the party with the most elected MK's gets to be Prime Minister.

We should also vote for our President. The english have 100% vote system in all counties, cities etc, plus the mk must live in the district. They have "surgeries" where the voters can seek help and advise or tell the Mk what he is doing wrong. Truly representing the public and not their own purse strings. The likes of Barak, Peres and Olmert would soon be booted out.

There again the English party with the majority sometimes move the regional boundaries so that they get more votes next time. So we might get a corruption of another kind.

The electoral system must be urgently changed in order to bring reality into politics. Nowadays politicians act in a kind of imaginary world,far from reality on the ground. People must be trully represented;fully represented;completely represented. People must feel excited in participating and changing their own society and not discouraged, because they feel they can do nothing to change things. If Israel is heard,Israel is going to be still more exciting and beautiful than it already is.

A blessing!!! This was needed years ago. But this should only be the 1st step on havign a fully eleceted knesset body from the public. Including the pime minister!! Thet them be scared. Israel needs it!!

If the chariedim win big, what will you do change the rules again? Arabs should not vote at all, they want to kill us, why should they have any benefits, this is the craziest thing ever (support the enemy) I guess anything goes as long as you don’t have to keep the mitzvos, well we will see how long you last!

Non Jews should have their garanties,but should not vote nor have any political influence in Israel. We must be coherent and stop pretending to be what we don't feel just to look politicaly correct.

We tried having a system where the PM is ellected seperatly to the Knesset and it was an idea that failed miserably. Now the corupt MKS who are worried about their careers are looking to a new half measure system. Why only 60 out of 120? Why cant all 120 MKS be directly ellected by the people of their region thats what happens in REAL DEMOCRACIES. This proposal is window dressing simply making a few adjustments to a rediculous system that produces unstable and not real democratic government. If we are going to change the political system we need to get rid of the old and bring in something completly new not this. 1) We must ellect all 120 MKS in regional ellections this will create loyalty to the voter not the party meaning what the voter wants matters not some crooked party hierarchy. 2) The system must be something along the lines of what the UK or US have where the party with the most seats makes the government this will avoid the need for unstable coalitions and what a party campaigns on is what they can be expected to do not drop policies voters wanted in favour of putting a coalition together. 3) A much higher threshold that will get rid of the single issue parties but not so high as we end up with an American style system where you have only 2 parties to choose from. Lets have a system where there can be more than 1 party but get rid of the little single issue ones that means votes count and only the parties who actually have somethng to offer get ellected. Pensioners party, green leaf, some of the smaller religious ones they are single issue parties and not the kind of parties who could form a national government .. either they offer something real or they dont get ellected. There isnt a country anywhere in the world which has the facrce that Israel calls a political system and what they are proposing would also be an Israel only system which will end up another disaster which we will have to wait another 60 years to change. When Ran Cohen tries to compare Israel to the size of the US as an excuse to justify keeping a less democratic system ( Meretz would be hit hard by ) its an argument that doesnt stand up because just like the US we have the politicians ellected regionaly the difference is that the regions would be smaller than the ones the US has. You can convert the regional system to any country of any size. If the politicians want to consider a more democratic system then lets go all the way not some rediculous half measure.