(Sept. 10, 2020) On June 15, 2020, the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) passed legislation allowing all ministers and deputy ministers to be replaced as Knesset members (KMs) by members of their own parties upon vacating their Knesset seats. The Basic Law: The Knesset (Amendment No. 49), 5780-2020 (Amendment Law), amends the Basic Law: The Knesset, Sefer HaHukim (Book of Laws, official gazette) 5718 No. 244, p. 69, as amended (the Law).
Knesset Membership Rotation Arrangement
The Amendment Law enables members of political factions represented in the coalition government to become Knesset members (KMs) upon the suspension of membership by members who assume ministerial and deputy ministerial positions, including those of prime minister (PM) and rotating PM. (Amendment Law, adding § 43(c)-(d) to the Law.)
The Amendment Law provides caps on the number of KMs from the same political faction that may suspend their Knesset membership. The caps are proportional to the faction’s size with up to five for factions consisting of more than 12 members and one to four for factions consisting of at least three members. (Id., adding § 42C(d).)
The suspension of Knesset membership under these circumstances requires the KM who serves as a minister to file a written notice with the Knesset Speaker, together with a written consent from his/her faction’s chairperson. Suspended Knesset membership may be renewed without the need to be sworn in again when the suspended member ceases to serve as a minister. (Id., adding § 42C(c).)
An KM position that has become vacant following service in a ministerial position will be filled by the candidate whose name is directly after the name of the last elected member in the candidates’ list submitted in the election. (Id., adding § 43(b).)
Criticism of the Arrangement
The ministerial rotation arrangement is known in Israel as the “Norwegian Law,” after Norwegian legislation mandating that all government ministers resign their seats in the parliament to create a separation of powers between the executive branch and the legislature. Critics have noted, however that the Israeli version of this system
… comes primarily in response to what many consider to be a short-handed Knesset, with a significant number of parliamentary seats effectively inactive because their holders are in the cabinet. Under current law, serving cabinet ministers are severely limited in their functions as MKs. They are not allowed to serve as speaker or deputy speaker, to sit on committees or even to propose bills.
The new law has faced criticism for increasing government expenditure by maintaining ministers as well as the lawmakers taking their places in the Knesset. According to one news article,
[a]t least 12 ministers or deputies are expected to eventually use the Norwegian Law, introducing a similar number of new MKs to the Knesset at an estimated cost of around NIS 20 million ($5.7 million) a year.
Commentators have suggested that the law was important to the Blue and White faction because of its 15 MKs, only three were not serving as ministers or deputy ministers and therefore able to spend time in Knesset committees and on daily affairs. The size of the Blue and White faction shrank after it split from its alliance with other parties on the eve of signing a coalition agreement with Likud. Even with the enactment of the Norwegian Law, Blue and White might still find it challenging to staff Knesset committees with its initial alliance members.