Government System:
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The Government

One of the few real powers of the president of the state -- the ceremonial head of state elected by the Knesset -- is to decide after every general election, resignation or death of the prime minister, or fall of the government by a vote of no-confidence, who should form the next government. The president consults all parties with seats in the Knesset and then make his choice on the basis of who he feels has the best chance to form a government.

All of Israel's governments have been coalition governments, since no party ever had an absolute majority in the Knesset and under Israel's system of parliamentary democracy the government requires the support of at least 61 of the 120 MKs to be viable.

As in Britain, the prime minister is considered "first among equals." At least in theory, there was to have been "collective responsibility," but in fact the level of discipline in the cabinet has usually been low and the dependence of the prime minister on the good will of his coalition partners encouraged slack discipline on their part. The prime minister has the right to remove ministers, but this happens only rarely. Until 1996 an ordinary Knesset majority could bring down the government by a vote of no-confidence. Only once has a government brought down in this way: the national unity government headed by Yitzhak Shamir, on March 15, 1990.

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