Mock Elections and Coalition Building

  With so many different political parties that are active in Israeli government today, I had no idea how I was going to memorize them all and their specific ideologies.  Reading about them in Freedman’s book was definitely helpful, but the party assignment and mock elections were very effective in giving me a solid overall knowledge of many of the parties.  Being able to choose our partners and the party that we would research made it not only educational, but also fun!  I learned so more about the Yesh Atid party that I ever thought possible in the short amount of time here on study abroad.  It was so interesting to be able to research a party that was so successful in the last Knesset election, but also one of the newest parties, being founded just last year in April of 2012.

     The actual mock election was such a creative way to get everyone interested in each party’s presentation, since we were actively involved in choosing how many seats each party received.  Not to mention that I think each group did an excellent job of holding the audiences’ attention and describing their main focuses of their platforms.  Although the presentations and election were fun and interesting, the coalition building process was even more entertaining and really gave us a feel for what it might be like for party leaders of the Knesset to have to compromise in order to be awarded certain ministries.  Admitteditly, it was a bit chaotic and loud at times when each party was trying to persuade Meretz why they should get a certain ministry, but I’m sure it is not any less chaotic when it comes to the actual coalition building and ministry assignments of the Israel Knesset!  I was especially satisfied that Yesh Atid, received the ministries of education, religious affairs, and deputy of the Interior.  All in all, this experience was not only enjoyable for me, but helped me learn about many of the parties in a hands-on way.