NGO pushes for debate between top candidates
10/16/2012 02:22
Movement for Quality Government, seconded by Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, pushes for debates ahead of election.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid Photo: Efrat Sa'ar
Israel requires a debate between its top candidates to ensure that the public
will know what they stand for, the Movement for Quality Government wrote on
Monday in a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his competition in
the January 22 election.
There has not been a debate between all the
candidates running for prime minister in Israel since the election between
Netanyahu and then-prime minister Shimon Peres in 1996. Since then, the
candidate perceived as the front-runner always scuttled plans for a
debate.
“In a democratic country in which elected officials are our
representatives, it is especially important to have an organized public debate
between those who see themselves as prime ministerial candidates,” the movement
wrote in the letter.
The movement said the short and intensive election
Israel is holding made it even more crucial that a debate be held. It said a
debate would allow candidates to sharpen their views and separate themselves
from the pack.
Following the debate between US presidential candidates
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid called for Israel to
hold a debate.
Netanyahu’s office declined to respond to the challenge.