nion polls. Netanyahu is fighting back Mr Barak cemented the impression of dirty-dealing by ramming his nomination as prime ministerial candidate of the Labour Party through its distinctly lukewarm central committee on December 10th. The motion was carried by acclaim instead of a proper vote. Important party figures such as Shimon Peres, a former prime minister and winner of the Nobel peace prize, kept an ostentatious distance. Others, such as Avraham Burg, the speaker of the Knesset, who had been considering running against Mr Barak, barely bothered to conceal their distaste for the former army commander's interpretation of internal party democracy. Mr Netanyahu paused only to denounce Mr Barak’s “unprecedented cynicism” before rushing into action. His supporters in the Knesset managed to secure the vote on the Bibi bill within three days of his decision to run. On December 17th, he will stand for the nomination of the Likud, the main right-wing opposition party, against Ariel Sharon, the present leader, and anyone else who cares for a tilt.The Knesset conundrumIn fact, Mr Netanyahu would prefer that the Knesset dissolve itself and prompt a full-on election rather than have the law changed so that he can run in a special one. The Likud controls just 19 of the Knesset's 128 seats. The rapid evaporation of Mr Barak's coalition, once 75-strong, shows the fickleness of the myriad small parties that hold the balance of power. The new prime minister, whoever it might be, will presumably suffer from the same problem. But the Knesset members, who have served less than half of their terms, are reluctant to give up their seats and the power of blackmail they confer over the prime minister. The root of the problem The only way to change that would be to amend the electoral system to reduce the influence of small parties. Until the mid-1990s, voters picked members of the Knesset, who in turn voted on the president’...
