Election Day Tomorrow

Big federal election here tomorrow. Who will be the next prime minister? Will it be one of the two PMs of past years or the lady with the blond hair? (Who knew Belinda Stronach went into Israeli politics?) Or will it be the seriously Zionist dude with the big beard and a snow ball’s chance in Tel Aviv?

I have noticed something funny on the election posters. Each has a box somewhere prominent with a Hebrew letter in it. Apparently, when you get your ballot, there are no names but just a list of letters that correspond to the different political parties and you pick your favorite party. Or if you are having problems deciding, you can always pick your favourite letter of the alphabet (Tet (ט) looks good and sassy. Avoid bet (ב): it looks like a hang man game; not a good sign).

A party gets a seat with every so many thousand votes. No pitting local candidates against each other. No regional under or over representation (Well, unless you are from the occupied territory in West Bank. No vote for you.)

Apparently there are almost as many parties as letters in the alphabet. So when the votes are in, no party will have enough clout to form a government alone. They must find buddies and form a coalition and then decide who is going to be PM. Serious backroom finagling. If you think a coalition between the liberals, the socialists and the separatists is odd, you should see what happens here. What a mess.

Honestly, I have no idea what is going on with the politics here. It is all very confusing. And in Hebrew. I did check out some of the websites of some of the smaller parties. Yikes, is all I have to say. Thank goodness for the Libs, the Cons, and the New Dippers: they all look smack in the middle compared to these guys.