Israeli Politicians Use of the Internet

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Israeli Politicians Use of the Internet

• Election Campaigns March 2006
• Sharon Haleva Amir

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Israeli Governmental System
President Ceremonial Head of the State
Prime Minister Head of the State In Practice
Judicial Authority Courts System
Legislative Authority Parliament-Knesset
Executive Authority Government
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Israeli Electoral System

• Israeli Elections are based on nation- wide
  proportional representation.
• the voters vote for a party list, and not for a
  particular person on the list.
• the number of seats which every list receives in
  the Knesset is proportional to the number of
  voters who voted for it.
• Qualifying treshold is 2, which means a party
  must receive at least 2 of the votes in order to
  be elected.

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Israeli Electoral System 2

• The Elections are being held every four
  years.nevertheless, the Knesset or the Prime
  Minister can decide to hold early elections, and
  under certain circumstances can serve for more
  than four years
• The Knesset Israeli Legislative Parliament is
  constituted of 120 members (MK).
• In the last Knesset (16th),13 Lists were elected.
• http//www.knesset.gov.il/main/eng/home.asp

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Israels exposure Rate to the Internet

• 40 of households in Israel were connected to the
  internet in 2004 (compared to 28 in 2002)
• http//www.cbs.gov.il/publications/indic-tech_heb.
  pdf

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Israeli Elections Via the Internet Politicians
Side

• Parties Sites.
• Internet Campaigns - Electoral Propaganda in the
  Home Pages of Leading Sites.
• For the First Time Candidates publish their own
  personal Blogs. Candidates all across the
  political spectrum are using this new medium to
  reach their voters

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Israeli Labor (Haavoda) Party Site
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Kadima (Ruling Party) Site
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Right wing Likud Party Site
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Internet Campaigns Shinui Party in Ynet
Homepage (the leading Newspaper in Israel)
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Dov His FriendsDov Henins Blog Israeli
Communist Party (Hadash)
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Baruch Marzels Blog Right Wing Extremist
Candidate
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Hagar Zimmermans Blog Green Leaf party
supports legalisation of soft drugs
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Shelly Yechimovitz the Diary Haavoda (Labor)
Candidate Blog
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Yahalom in a public mission Shaul Yahaloms
Blog Mafdal A National Religious Party
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Israeli Elections Via the Internet Citizens Side

• Political Forums
• Talkbacks
• Chats
• Citizens Political Blogs
• Supporters Sites.
• Virtual Support Demonstrations

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Politicians appear in a video chat, talking with
members of the political community in a leading
Israeli newspaper
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Talkbacks Internet users respond to current
affairs articles
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Citizens Political Blogs Menora Hazani a
settler represents Right wing voters, Ilanit
Suisa represents Left wing voters Abigail
Bechler- represents Mainstream voters
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A Private Site of Likud Supporters
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A Virtual Support Demonstartion Kadima Party
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Internet as an Electoral Tool

• The Internet presence in electoral campigns is
  well noticed.
• Most parties and candidates use the internet to
  reach citizens without the need to use mediated
  mass communications media.

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Internet as an Electoral Tool Advantages to the
politicians

• The Internet sets no limits of time and space for
  the political players to lecture their platform.
• The Propaganda Laws which reffers to classical
  mass media (Radio, TV, Journalism) do not apply
  to the internet, thus the political players
  doesnt have any legal limitations.

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More Advantages to the political players

• Politicians use the net to preach their own
  opinions and platforms.
• Interviews of politicians by opinionated
  journalists are less important to them
• Thus, politicians do not need to face profound
  or prying questions.
• Good for politicians Bad for Democracy

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Internet as an Electoral Tool Advantages to the
citizen/voter

• It exposes citizens to many opinions whenever
  they want to.
• It lays the foundation to deliberation.
• It enables potential voters to interact by Email,
  Forum or Chat with the politicians, effortlessly.
• It empowers citizens to become active players in
  the political game.

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Main Disadvantages of the Internet as an
Electoral Tool

• Although Internet is very prevalent in Israel,
  wide scale populations dont have access to the
  net.
• Themes published in the Internet reach mostly
  Israeli natives, middle class, well educated
  people.
• Thus the Net doesnt represent equally all the
  opinions and all the sectors in the population.

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Some Critical Insights

• Theoretically, politicians usage of the internet
  empowers citizens, advances deliberation and
  opens another communication channel between
  politicians and citizens.
• However, many of the blogs dont include talkback
  / forum options.

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Critical Insights - 2

• Election Campaigns motivate politicians to court
  potential voters. After the elections, presumably
  most MK will not continue to write their blogs.
• One sided / short termed blogs dont contribute
  empowerment or participation on behalf of the
  citizens but rather constitutes another
  unilateral communication channel for the
  politicians.

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A Bit About My Planned Research

• A Comparative Research
• Content Analysis of MK websites (Israel).
• Content Analysis of MP websites (UK).
• The connection between legislators websites to
  Participatory Democracy and Deliberation in
  theory in practice.

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Interesting Links

• Citizens' Empowerment Center in Israel
• english gateway to the knesset website
• The Israel Democracy Institute
• Israeli Politics Blogspot - A monthly newsletter
• Ynet News Elections Site (Online English
  Newspaper)

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Thank You

• Sharon_at_trebcon.com