In just under two weeks, Israel is going places. One of the places it is definitely going is to the polls. A second place it is almost certainly going is to the dogs, and the two are not unrelated.

Israel desperately needs this election, in order to start moving on from a position of stagnation on multiple fronts. However, it is far from certain that the results of the election are going to leave the country in any position to move on.

As has more than once in the past been the case, I have not yet decided which party I will be voting for. There are, as has always been the case in the past, several parties I already know I will not be voting for, but, sadly, that still leaves a wide choice.

I thought today that I might describe some of what I would like to see come out of this election. Perhaps that will help me decide how to cast my vote on October 27.

First, I’d like to see (or rather to have seen) each party publish, the day after the election date was declared, a 5–10 page manifesto: a clear, practical statement of what they plan to achieve if they form a government, and how they plan to achieve it. A few parties have such a blueprint, but many do not. If I have to intuit what a party’s platform is, and what its plans are, beyond slogans like “Anyone but Bibi” or single-issue statements like “Sharing the national burden evenly”, then I can hardly make an informed decision.

Next, I’d like to see far fewer parties in the next Knesset. If a party wins four or five seats, there is one of two possible outcomes. It may be lucky enough to find itself holding the balance of power in the Knesset, and joining the governing coalition, while extorting from the largest Government party a ridiculous number of Government ministries – some newly minted purely as a bribe – as well as getting funding for some project that favours their particular constituency. On the other hand, it may find itself out in the cold of the opposition, where, with a handful of members, it will have no real impact on public life.

The way to achieve my desired result is probably to increase the electoral threshold to something like 8%. This would, I imagine, lead to politicians grouping together as a single party under a broader tent. This would mean that when I cast my vote, I would know who would be in the government if my party won. There would be no unexpected and unacceptable coalitions.

Raising the electoral threshold is one way. A more far-reaching change, and one that I would also welcome, is to move, partially or wholly, from a proportional representative system to a constituency system, where an individual MK is elected in a local constituency, competing against individual MKs from a range of other parties, in a first-past-the-post race. The prospect of having a local MK who is required and incentivised to represent all of his constituents is very attractive,

I would also welcome the setting in place of a process that would eventually lead to a constitution and reform in the balance between executive, judicial and legislative powers. The country needs that reform, and deserves leaders who have the maturity and responsibility to create a framework that can arrive at a programme that unites, rather than divides, the country.

If the balance of power still needs to be held by a Haredi party (and I hope it will not but suspect it will), then I would like it to be The Charedi Public, a new party that advocates for secular studies, workforce participation, and IDF conscription for anybody who does not study full-time in yeshiva.

Lastly in this list, I would like to see the back of Bibi. He was, for many of his years in Israeli politics, a tremendous national asset: as Finance Minister, and, in many ways, as Prime Minister, However, it is clear that much of his naturally diminishing energy is now devoted simply to his political survival, rather than to the survival, and progress, of the nation. The time has come, indeed it came some time ago, for him to hand the baton to the successor generation – a generation he has, throughout his career, striven to stifle.

I’m not sure in what order I would rank the above ideas. However, if I could only have one wish, then it would be that the very first action taken by the new government be the appointment of a state inquiry into the events of 7 October. Simple justice cries out for this, so that those responsible for the failure are compelled to take responsibility. National security requires this, so that the necessary lessons can be learnt and changes made to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. The nation as a whole needs this, as a vital stage in healing and moving on from 7 October.

The upcoming election feels tremendously important, and yet the build-up to it gives no sense of significance. I hope and pray that, before October 27, and after it, the nation finds that sense and moves forward with purpose.

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