Proportional representation and israeli elections: How extreme religious parties become kingmakers

The application of the Proportional Representation system in a small country like Israel and through a single electoral area, inevitably brings forth the need to form coalitions as no single party is able to garner the required majority. The classification of the political parties in Israel follow the traditional lines of centre-left, centre-right, communist, nationalist, ethnic, etc. with the extreme religious parties coming to the limelight as they have proven to be indispensable in coalition formation. Those parties which aim to place religious traditions in the heart of social life, primarily serve their solid electoral base which varies according to the geographical origins and have a traditional cabinet portfolio preference. The Proportional Representation system and the solidity of these parties' electoral base renders them a key element in coalition formation, irrespective of the fact that the leading coalition party is on the left or on the right. This study aims to demonstrate such indispensability and reliance on the extreme religious parties within the Israeli political landscape through the analysis of all governments from the elections of 1949 to 2015. As the leading parties are reluctant to include ethnic Arab parties in coalition formation, the extreme religious ones become the only option, hence the term Kingmaker.