How do Israeli Parties Choose Their Candidates

The election campaign for the 25th Knesset is in its early stages, and one of the key landmarks is September 15th when all the parties contending must submit their list of candidates.

The election campaign for the 25th Knesset that will take place on November 1st is in its early stages, and one of the key dates on the road to Election Day is September 15th. By the end of this day (midnight) all the parties must submit their final list of candidates to the Central Election Committee.

In the weeks leading up to September 15th, the parties contending in the election are busy determining their lists for the Knesset. Each party is free to determine the internal procedure it deems best in selecting its candidates for office, and there are a number of methods currently in use.

Some parties have internal democratic procedures such as ‘primaries’ and representative institutions where members of the party determine the slate, while in others it is the party leader who hand selects each potential Member of Knesset. In the ultra-Orthodox parties, the candidates are chosen by a ‘Council of Torah Sages’ made up of rabbinic leaders who guide all of the parties’ policy decisions.

Whatever method they use, all the parties seek to present a list to the public that will represent their various constituencies and hope to convince as many new voters as possible to choose their ballot on Election Day.