Two Labour victories: One in Israel and one across the Pond - opinion

As a long-time member of Israel’s Labor Party – which received a two-digit figure of MKs when it ran as the Zionist Union in the 2015 election, and then, in recent years faced predictions of the party’s complete disappearance – my spirits have been somewhat raised by two events.

The first is the successful efforts of the Israel Labor Party’s new leader, Yair Golan, to unite the Labor Party and Meretz in future elections. The second is the success of British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, who led his party to a stunning victory in last Thursday’s general election in the UK – the second recent victory of a Social Democratic party in elections in Europe, following the Social Democratic Party (SPD) victory in the September 2021 German federal election.

These two victories stand out against the undeniable strengthening of the extreme Right in numerous European states, especially in last month’s elections to the European Parliament.

Last week’s election in the UK is noteworthy for several reasons. The first is the fact that it all happened very quickly. On May 22, former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak announced that early elections would take place on July 4. The day after the election, Starmer presented his new government, after his party emerged with 412 seats (out of 650) in the House of Commons – up from 201 in the previous parliament. The entire process took 44 days.

In Israel such a timetable is unthinkable. First of all, the process for calling early elections is much longer. An early election law must be passed in the Knesset in three readings by a majority of the MKs (at least 61 MKs). By law the election must take place no later than five months after this law is passed, which does not encourage expediting the process.

The technical arrangements for holding an election are quite lengthy in Israel, while the time required by the parties to prepare for elections is usually much longer than in countries whose electoral system is based on constituencies (electoral districts). This is because our system of proportional representation requires the selection of candidates for the parties’ election lists. In parties that hold primaries, the process can be especially long.

Secondly, in Israel it is unfeasible that a new government can be formed within less than 24 hours after the election results are published. The main reason is that all Israeli governments are coalition governments, since no list has ever gained a majority of Knesset seats. The closest any list got to winning a majority of the seats was the Labor Alignment in the 1969 election, when it received 56 seats.

Therefore, in a coalition government, the prospective prime minister has little control over the makeup of his government since each prospective coalition partner selects its own ministers, and bargains for the government portfolios they will receive. 

In the current political situation, the prospective prime minister doesn’t even have full control over the identity of the ministers he appoints from his own party. As a result, the formation of a government is a lengthy process. For example, close to two months elapsed from the day the elections were held for the 25th Knesset on November 1, 2022 until Netanyahu managed to present Israel’s 37th government on December 29.

Impossible for any election list to receive a majority

ONE REASON it is impossible for any election list to receive a majority is our system of proportional representation, and the large number of party lists running in each election. The UK, on the other hand, has a single-member constituency system, accompanied by a first-past-the post method for determining the victor. This means that if there are more than two candidates in a constituency, the candidate who receives the most votes wins, even if he/she has not been supported by a majority.

In last Thursday’s election, the Labour Party received 63% of the parliamentary seats but only 34% of the votes. The Liberal Democrats received 11% of the seats and 12% of the votes. The extreme right-wing Reform Party received five seats but 14% of the votes. This system is undoubtedly unfair, but it certainly increases governability, compared to our system, which is fair, but frequently turns governability into a nightmare.

Another peculiarity of the British system that enabled Starmer to form his government in less than 24 hours is the institution of the shadow cabinet. The shadow cabinet is a team of opposition MPs, chosen by the opposition leader, that mirrors the government cabinet. Each member of the shadow cabinet is appointed to represent a specific policy area to question and challenge his/her counterpart in the real cabinet. In this way, the official opposition seeks to present itself as an alternative government-in-waiting.

Most of the cabinet appointments made by Starmer last Friday were members of his shadow cabinet in the previous parliament, and were appointed to the same (or similar) portfolios that they had held in the shadow cabinet.

In Israel, shadow governments appointed by the official leader of the opposition are unfeasible because the Israeli opposition is invariably made up of a heterogeneous and divided group of parties, and there is no assurance that even if the current government is brought down, the current leader of the largest opposition party will form the next government.

BUT TO RETURN to the UK’s new government. It has been 14 years since a Labour government existed in the UK. The previous leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, was a radical, old-school socialist. He was also pro-Palestinian, supported Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, and holds an anti-Israel and even antisemitic ideology. Starmer is much more moderate, and when he became leader of the Labour Party in 2020, he purged the party of antisemitic elements. Corbyn, who was expelled from the party, was reelected to the new parliament as an independent.

Though the party’s glorious electoral victory has certainly raised the spirits of the British Left, the economic, social, and political inheritance the Labour Party has received from its Conservative Party predecessor is complicated. Nevertheless, Starmer acted magnanimously after he officially replaced Sanak, lauding him for being the first British prime minister of Asian origin, and complimenting him for his efforts to cope with the economic mess he had inherited from his predecessors.

Though Starmer is a moderate socialist, who opposes neo-liberalism, and seeks to centralize the party, there are other, more radical voices in his party. While Starmer designed Labour’s comeback brilliantly, he will now have to prove himself as an effective head of the executive branch. 

As to his attitude toward Israel, Starmer was slow to advocate an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, when numerous European leaders did so. But we are yet to see what Middle East policy he, and his Foreign Secretary David Lammy, will pursue. It might well be much less favorable to Israel than the policy of his Conservative Party predecessor.

Incidentally, while Starmer is a self-declared atheist, his wife is Jewish, and his two children are being raised as Jews.

The writer worked in the Knesset for many years as a researcher, and has published extensively both journalistic and academic articles on current affairs and Israeli politics. Her most recent book, Israel’s Knesset Members – A Comparative Study of an Undefined Job, was published by Routledge.