Election Primaries in Israel - Essay Example

Due to the country’s unique security needs and political fragmentation, Likud and Labour parties have in some cases formed a coalition government. Likud will elect its candidate for prime minister for the next election in January 31, 2012. Since elections in Israel are held every four years, the primaries for Likud party are also held every four years in order to get the candidate who will represent the party in the next general election to become the prime minister hence forming the government.

Vorobev (2010) explains that the party’s constitution requires that leadership primaries should be held up to six months prior to the general elections. In the primaries, members of the party who have the right to vote meet so as to vote their candidate for the next election. These members come from all parts of the country. The party begins the process by identifying the electorate, that is, the body that selects the candidates to be involved in the primaries depending on various party criteria.

The Israel Democracy Institute (2011) observes that the election of the candidate is often based on the ideology of the candidate and his or her position on various issues relating to Israel such as foreign policy, the Israel—Palestine conflict. . rael Labour Party constitution requires that primaries should be held so that the candidate for next election is identified to compete with candidates from other parties. The constitution has set a 40% threshold for the candidates; candidates should win with 40% of all votes casted in the primaries in order to be candidates for the party.

In an event that the persons vying for the candidature of the party do not attain the 40% threshold, a second round of the election is held (Vorobev, 2010). The two candidates with the best results from the first round battle each other out in the second round. The winner of the primaries also becomes the automatic chairman of the party (The Israel Democracy Institute, 2011). Primaries in 3 parties in other Countries Apart from Israel, there are other countries across the world whose parties hold primary elections.

This discussion will focus on the three parties namely; the Democrat Party in the United States, the French Socialist Party in France, and the Radical Civic Union in Argentina. In regard to the Democrat Party, just like the Republican Party, the other major party in the US, it conducts national conventions in order to elect the party’s presidential candidate for the next election. Norrander (2010) notes, the conventions are held in each state of the US where the presidential candidates are elected by each state’s delegates.

This is usually preceded by a series demonstrations and speeches in support of each party’s candidate. The candidate who is first to receive the leading majority of delegates votes eventually becomes the presidential candidate of the party (Norrander, 2010). After being elected as the candidate of the party to run for presidency is then supposed to select the vice president from one of the party