There are two reasons for this unprecedented phenomonenon. One is the high birthrate of religious families. Before the May 1996 elections, when the old system was in force, many religious voters cast their ballots for secular nationalist parties such as the Likud and the now defunct Techiya. However, under the new popular election law, religious voters can split their votes by casting a separate ballot for the prime minister and another for the religious party of their choice. That direct, popular election of the prime minister augments his power is indubitable.
Power means the ability to accomplish one s purposes.
If a prime minister s purpose is to remain prime minister, the present law serves that end. But if power is the potential ability to do good, that is, to serve the good of the nation, the present law can only serve that end if Israel has a good, that is to say, a wise and courageous prime minister. But even if Israel had such a prime minister, he would be undermined by his coalition partners. The truth is that an overwhelming majority of the people of Israel are disgusted with the Labor and the Likud parties, whose intellectually bankrupt leaders are simply trying to win a few more Knesset seats by reverting to the old system. If the old guard succeeds in this maneuver, it will be even more difficult for any prime minister-designate to form a government, given the declining popular support of Labor and Likud on the one hand, and the multiplicity of parties in the Knesset on the other.