Bayit Yehudi party leader Naftali Bennett has announced he will possibly support for a bill limiting a Prime Minister to two terms. The bill is the initiative MK (Machane Tzioni) Merav Michaeli.
Bennett explained he takes the US for an example, where the President is limited to two terms, telling Michaeli that he “Tends to support the bill” that he will discuss with faction members. He did clarify that his party’s position on the bill would be announced in the coming days.
At present, the bill enjoys the support of opposition parties. It is pointed out that even if the bill is passed into law, it will not take effect for a number of years, meaning PM Netanyahu would be eligible to run in the next Knesset elections.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
In a parliamentary system (based on the British model and used in most democracies), the Prime Minister serves at the pleasure of the parliament. If you want fixed terms, you need a presidential system similar to the United States, Russia or France which among other things implies separation of powers and a legislature that is independent of the executive. You can’t have it both ways. If you keep a parliamentary system but limit terms of the Prime Minister you end up with a leader of the leading party who is not the Prime Minister, but is still the “boss”.
This proposal makes no sense. In the US you vote for a person to be President. In Israel you vote for a party list. The leader of the winning list, who is chosen by their party, is (usually) tasked by the President to form a government. How can you limit a party from winning an election??
In Burma they rigged it so the leader of the largest party couldn’t be Prime Minister. What results is that she holds many fancy titles and is the “de facto” Prime Minister. The same thing would happen if one “mashed up” term limits (from a presidential system) with what is otherwise a parliamentary system.