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Country Profile:

Israel

Description of government structure:

  • Chief of State: President Shimon PERES *
  • Head of Government: Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU
  • Assembly: Israel has a unicameral Knesset with 120 seats.

* The president is largely a ceremonially role.

Description of electoral system:

  • The President is elected by parliament to serve a 7-year term.
  • The Prime Minister is designated by the president to serve a 4-year term.**
  • In the Knesset 120 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

** After parliamentary elections, the president will usually select a prime minister that he/she feels has the best possibility of forming a new government.

*** There is a two percent threshold required to gain representation.

Population:

  • Population: 7,353,985 (July 2010 est)

Past elections

Last Updated on 07/26/2010

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