[FRIDAY OPINION] Despite the heat and the late afternoon traffic, a handful of women and men stand by an extremely busy Jerusalem intersection holding their placards aloft, hoping the sounds of car horns are in solidarity with them rather than in complaint about the lack of movement of the vehicles ahead. These loyal Israelis are unhappy about the political system – they claim not to support one political party but rather the need for a cede change in the way politics is done. Their main beef is with the electoral system that has virtually no accountability built-in. Voters elect parties rather than local MPs and that means citizens have no one to turn to, to fight their corner on the national scene, and the politicians are free to carry on willy nilly knowing they will not be voted out of office by a discontented constituency – simply because they do not have one. As Israel seeks to find a new prime minister to replace Ehud Olmert, MPs are embroiled in a dirty game of threatening to bring about fresh elections if their demands for joining the coalition are not met. It is a form of political bribery and it is thoroughly unpleasant. True, Israel is still far more democratic than most other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, but it still has a long way to go before becoming a true representative democracy; and many fear the Jerusalem protest will be looked down upon with derision by those who hold the keys of power and are not too keen to let go.