Case Number

HCJ 98/69

Date Decided

7-3-1969

Decision Type

Original

Document Type

Full Opinion

Abstract

Section 4 of Basic Law: The Knesset, requires that elections to the Knesset shall be "general, nationwide, direct, equal, secret and proportional". Sections 4 and 46 of this Law require that any amendment to section 4 be approved by an absolute majority of the Knesset. In 1969, the Knesset passed a Law providing public financing of the election campaign for the seventh Knesset, scheduled to be held in 1970. According to the provisions of this Law, which was not passed by an absolute majority, such funding is granted solely to party factions which are represented in the outgoing Knesset.

The Petitioners contend that the funding provisions of the new Law are void for two reasons. The Law was initiated by several members of the Knesset as a private bill, whereas legislation that imposes a financial burden on the Treasury must be initiated by the government. By providing public financing only for existing party groups, the Law infringes upon the requirement in section 4 of the Basic Law that elections be "equal" and is therefore invalid since it was not passed by the absolute majority required under section 46 of the Basic Law, i.e., a majority of the members of the Knesset, at each stage of the legisation.

The court issued an order nisi, calling upon the Minister of Finance and the Government Comptroller, to show reason why an order should not be issued directing the Minister to refrain from making any expenditure under the election financing Law and directing the Comptroller to refrain from performing any act which the said Law authorises or requires him to perform. The Respondents appeared in opposition to the order nisi.

The court ruled that the order nisi be made absolute, holding:

1. Whatever may be the law in England, there is no rule in Israeli law that forbids members of the Knesset from initiating a private bill that imposes a financial burden on the Treasury.

2. All of the other terms in section 4 of the Basic Law, "general, nationwide, direct, proportional", relate both to the right to vote and to the right to be elected. There is no reason not to give the word "equal" a similarly broad meaning.

3. The absolute denial of any funding to new party groups is a substantial violation of the principal of equality established in section 4 of the Basic Law, and therefore requires the support of an absolute majority of the Knesset at each stage of the legislation.

Note - The Knesset thereafter amended the Law to include financing for new party groups. The amendment was passed by an absolute majority of the Knesset members, although it is possible that such a majority was not required since, arguably, the new Law, as amended, satisfied the requirement of equality. At the same time, the Knesset enacted a second Law, also by absolute majority, which retroactively confirmed the validity of all legislation concerning election procedures that had been enacted previously. The effect of the Confirmation Law was to prevent judicial review of all such legislation previously enacted, even if it violated one of the entrenched provisions.

For a later case dealing with the requirement of equality as it relates to public financing of elections, see the Rubinstein case, infra, p. 60. For a case dealing with the implications of the requirement that elections be "equal" with respect to public broadcasting time allowed each party, see the Agudat Derekh Eretz case, infra, p. 21. Both cases concerned legislation passed after the Confirmation Law, though the effect of the Confirmation Law was considered by the court in the Agudat Derekh Eretz case.

Keywords

Elections, Constitutional Law -- Basic Law: The Knesset, Constitutional Law -- Government, Constitutional Law -- Legislation, International Law -- Relevance of foreign law in judicial decisions

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