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__Democracy Around the World__ By: Joshua Z.

Are there democracies in other countries? Since the elections are coming up, I thought it would be a good idea to write about democracies in other countries. I am going to talk about the democracy in Israel.

The democracy in Israel is similar to the democracy in our country. Their democracy has voting, debates, elections, and prime ministers. As to us, we have voting, debates, elections, and presidents. So you see, they are quite alike.

Israel’s Prime Minister is the head of their country; like our president is the chief of state. But, they have a president too. Their presidents go to ceremonies, opening events, and other things that our president’s wife might do. So, they almost have the same democratic life in their country as we do.

Their government also has different branches. The first branch is the Legislative Branch. The Knesset is the Legislative Branch. In Hebrew, Knesset means "assembly." Its members makes Israel's laws. In the Knesset, there are around 120 members that represent many political parties. They are close to forty registered political parties in Israel, which are very diverse. The laws that they make approve the national budget and make policy decisions. Their elections take place every four years. When they elect, they vote for their favorite political parties, but we vote for our favorite candidates. Traditionally, Israel has two main parties. They are the Labor and the Likud. They also have religious parties. The members of the Knesset usually include teachers, bankers, farmers, rabbis, lawyers, and other jobs.

Another branch is the Executive Branch. They are responsible for the laws that the Knesset makes. The Prime Minister is the head of the government. The term of office is four years. New elections start when the Knesset wants a new government. I read that Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has regular "free" elections. In Israel history, there has been one woman Prime Minister; Golda Meir.

The last branch is the Judicial Branch. In this branch, there are many different types of courts. Some of them are the Local Court, the District Court, and the Supreme Courts. They also have special courts such as the Labor and Traffic Courts. In their courts, it is a little different. They don't use juries. They use a single judge or a panel of three or more judges to end the case. According to what I read, there are currently fifteen judges in the Supreme Court. The president of Israel appoints them after they are nominated by the Nomination’s Committee. There have been judges from all of Israel's society, even women.

Israel's history included four famous people. The four people that represent different parts in Israel's history are Theodore Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, David Ben Gurion, and Golda Meir. These people were Israel's founders.

So, there are democracies in other countries. If you want, you should do more research on the topic. Also, if you are interested in how democracies work, then you should watch the upcoming debates for the U.S. presidential elections.