
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 15, 1990                   TAG: 9005010537
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STALEMATE

For six years, Israel had a two-headed contrivance, pulling in opposite directions, that it called a government. A couple of weeks ago, the creature broke apart and the two halves resumed clawing at one another, a state each seems to prefer. Neither half can form a government of its own. There is talk of trying to knit them together again; it is a counsel of despair.

Israel badly needs to reform its method of governing. Basically, the country runs on the parliamentary method, but carried to stultifying extremes.

Under the best circumstances, the parliamentary form lends governing power to the party that voters have given a clear majority of legislative seats. Now and then, a clear majority is lacking, and one party with a large bloc of seats must try to ally with another party or parties to achieve a majority.

Such a method can allow small parties to tip the balance of power, which again is all right under usual circumstances. With Israel's Knesset, the problem is in a system of proportional representation that can make political Goliaths out of any number of Davids.

Any 1,500 eligible Israeli voters can get together, call themselves a party, and put up candidates for all 120 seats in the parliamant. At the polls, voters pick from among party tickets, not individuals; if a party gets as little as 1 percent of the popular vote, it is given a proportional share of the seats. These legislators represent interests, not real people in a home district. "The results," says the U. S. newspaper Newsday, "is a proliferation of small single-issue, ethnic or religious-based parties that frequently hold the balance of power. The further result is paralysis or chaos."

Just now, Israel has paralysis. It could soon have chaos or worse. President Chaim Herzog says that recent maneuverings raise "piercing questions about our system of government and out political culture." Earlier, he warned that widespread disillusionment with the system "could pave the way for a demagogue to rise to power."

Doomsday scenarios aren't necessary. Israel can ill afford what it has already: a stalemate that prevents the country from governing itself and making the vital political decisions it faces. The people are losing patience. The calls for change should be heeded.

by CNB