INTRODUCTION

On February 19, 1969, Israel joined the small group of countries that had pioneered state financing of political parties. Until then, Israeli electoral campaigns had been lengthier than those of almost any other parliamentary system, and were far costlier than most in terms of the amount spent per eligible voter. The combined expenditure of the parties competing in the 1961 parliamentary elections, for example, was estimated at IL 25,000,000 (more than $8 million), or some $6.75 per eligible voter, figures, which according to Guttman, “not only exceeded anything known from other Western countries, but [were] really of an entirely different order of magnitude.”

The next parliamentary elections, four years later, were even more expensive. Conducted against the background of Ben Gurion's challenge to the ruling Labor Party, which he had headed for many years, and of the fear of his breakaway party collaborating with the newly united right-wing opposition, its costs constituted an Israeli record. At the lowest estimate, the combined expenditure rose to IL 47,000,000, or approximately $10.40 for each of the million and a half eligible voters. If one includes the costs of the electoral campaign to the Histadrut (the Trade Union Confederation, which also operates several businesses), held between the parties contesting the national elections, the total amount of money spent on elections that year would be about double. Even before the campaign started, voices were raised appealing for emergency regulations limiting the amount each party could spend.