A Democracy-Led Recovery

January 27, 2003

With the Israeli election just two days away, Ari reports today from Tel Aviv.

As economics goes, it makes good politics. Ariel Sharon's grand plan to pull Israel out of the economic slump it currently finds itself in is to have election after election until all is well.

Forget industry, tourism or innovation. Instead, this is going to be the democracy-led recovery.

How else can you explain the massive amounts of spending that have gone into this election? It is impossible to avoid noticing the considerable splurges of sheckels that each party in this campaign has devoted to improving its electoral fortunes. From the full-colour glossy brochures that litter the main streets of Israel, to the high-production value TV ads that air each night, complete with catchy jingle and animation, it is clear that professional politics and campaigning is at work. The question of where the money for such a campaign effort comes from is an interesting one.

Given the global position of Israel, such big budget campaigns are surprising. The Israeli population is about 6 million, marginally bigger than NSW. It has had frequent, coffer-draining elections - this is the fourth in seven years. It has strict laws regarding campaign financing, which prevent any non-Israeli from contributing money, and restricts Israelis to 1800 NIS ($A700) per person.

Compared to other western democracies, this campaign seems particularly costly. Many locals, however, say that previous campaigns have been even more visual, and presumably more costly. Public funding is available to parties based on their representation in the outgoing Knesset, but just how generous this funding is is unclear.

It is not just the major parties - Likud, Labour, Shinui and Shas - who seem to be spending plenty in their attempts to enter the 16th Knesset.

Take two relatively minor parties, Oleh Yarok and Herut. Of these, neither were successful in having anyone elected in the previous general elections, and only Herut has a member of the Knesset due to a defection from another party. Despite being mere minnows in the ocean of Israeli politics, both of these parties are hard to miss. Oleh Yarok (Green Leaf) seeks the liberalisation of drug and sex laws. Their stickers adorn streetpoles, their banners hang from high up on balconies and shopfronts. The printed material is in abundance, and is all full colour glossy material, much of it in two, three and even four languages (Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English). Each night their TV commercials screen, which include head-ache inducing animation and slick professional graphics.

Similarly, Herut, a right wing religious party keen on transfer of Israel's Arab population. The Herut material is anywhere and everywhere, including a blitzkrieg effort of their posters on every square inch of public space. Consider, also, that most parties have a dedicated campaign office in each major city, and one can only admire the effort that goes into the campaign.

One has to wonder, however, just how effective all this material is. It would seem that the material of each party is largely cancelled out by the material of other parties.

Most of the themes of the campaign tug at the heartstrings rather that the mind, and so in the end the voter is none the wiser about how they will cast their ballot.

One party worker interviewed in the Jerusalem Post during the week explained that the purpose is not to rationally persuade the voter through this style of campaigning, but is to instead create the perception that the party is a significant player and has a significant level of support, and hence utilise the 'bandwagon effect'.

Though this seems true, it seems that a more effective method of campaigning is through earned, rather than bought, media. Parties need to make themselves part of the narrative of the election, and become a crucial part of the story. This can be seen in the importance placed during the campaign on the secular Shinui party, which early on pledged they would only form a coalition government with both Likud and Labor, and since that point have had their campaign covered remarkably well by the mainstream media. Despite having similar representation in the current Knesset, fellow party Meretz, a fiercely left wing party, has had barely a passing glance in the coverage.

All the banners and billboards in the world, it seems, cannot turn around a party which just doesn't matter.

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