I saw an article yesterday expressing the sentiment that all those people who decided (especially those who switched votes in the last few days of the elections) to vote Likud instead of Habayit Hayehudi - it is their fault the Oren Hazzan got into the Knesset rather than Shuli Muallam. Hazzan, besides for his initial lousy behavior, is now mired in a crazy scandal being exposed from the time he spent managing a casino in Bulgaria, clearly not worthy for being a public representative (if he is guilty)... while Shuli Muallam is a person who has good character (even if you don't necessarily agree with her politics, you cannot deny her character and qualifications) and is a worthy public servant.

I say that this is another fault of the lousy electoral system we have, and not the fault of anybody who chose to vote Likud over any other party.

Israel does not have representative elections or government. People vote for a party because they agree, more or less, with its platform, and/or because they like some of the candidates running in the party more than they like the platform or candidates of other parties.

As a Likud voter, I have no way of knowing that my vote is about to help #30 or #25 or #50 get into the Knesset. I don't reject a list because someone in a seemingly unrealistic spot is on the list with a slight chance of getting in, if I even know anything about him. When I vote Likud I am not choosing between Oren Hazzan and Shuli Muallam. If anything at all I am at most choosing between Benjamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennet, and maybe you can add a few more of the higher profile names of each party in the list of considerations. Even though I voted Likud, Oren Hazzan does not represent me, just like the other Likud MKs do not. They might represent some of the ideals I believe to be important, but they do not represent me.

So, people who voted Likud did not choose between oren Hazzan and Shuli Muallam. The Likud should be vetting its candidates, as all parties should be, and Oren Hazzan should never have been allowed to happen, but it is not the public's fault that it did..

Electoral reform that will include direct representation, at least in some form, could possibly change that in the future. If I could vote for specific candidates, I would maybe (note the "maybe") choose to vote for some Likud candidates, some Habayit Hayehudi candidates, some UTJ candidates, and some from other parties as well.