The Right to Participate in Elections: Judicial and Practical Considerations

Abstract

This chapter deals with the right to compete in elections. The aim is to review some of the decisions of the Israeli Central Elections Committee and of the Supreme Court regarding disqualification of political parties¹ in Israel. The discussion is on two levels: philosophical and judicial. On the first level two major questions are addressed: (a) when should tolerance have its limits?; (b) what constraints on liberty should be introduced in order to safeguard democracy? As for the judicial level, here the focus lies on the issue of authority. Attention is given to the written law and to existing normative considerations, which allow justices exegetic latitude.