Akkan confessional communities

In Akkan politics, a confession refers to a confessional community - a religious group, or when used more broadly, any ethnic/religious/linguistic community. Political parties in Acre are generally confessionalist in that they source most of their support from a particular ethnic and/or religious community, and promote their particular community's interests. Confessional parties have entrenched themselves within Akkan politics, despite no laws requiring a proportional distribution of seats among confessional communities.

Israelis

Israeli Jews are by far the largest confession in Acre, constituting a comfortable majority of the population. As such, Israeli Jews are a large presence in all of Acre's six districts, and in some - Kiryat Bialik and Nahariya - they are the overwhelming majority (>95%). As such, a number of political parties have emerged to represent this large and politically diverse ethnoreligious community. the Conservative Party represents most right-leaning Israelis, while the Labor Zionist Party represents many on the left. The Liberal Union is officially non-confessional, but continues to source the vast majority of its support from centrist and centre-left Israelis.

Russian-speaking Israelis

Russian-speaking Israelis are a notable subgroup. Mostly located in the city of Haifa, where they make up around 25% of the city's population, Russian-speaking Israelis largely emigrated to Israel during the 1990s post-Soviet aliyah. They are traditionally more secular, as many are not Jewish matrilineally. The Movement for the Homeland is a Russian-speaking confessional party, often mixing socially conservative beliefs with economic nationalist rhetoric to appeal to the Russian-speaking population, most of whom are employed in Haifa's heavy industry.

Haredi Jews

Haredi Jews are a small section of Acre's population compared to Israel writ large, comprising about 3% of the population. Somewhat paradoxically, most within the Haredi community also vote for the Movement for the Homeland, despite its support for a removal of most religious privileges and imagery; most explain this with reference to the Movement's strong support for social conservatism and for a one-state solution.

Arabs

Most Arabs in Acre are Sunni Muslim, though around 20% of the Arab population in Haifa are Ahmadiyya. Most Arabs live in the two districts of the city of Acre, though they also have a relatively large population in Acre's largest city, Haifa.

The People's Democratic Union is the only pan-Arab confessional movement in Acre, and as such dominates Arab politics for the most part. The PDU is Acre's largest left-wing party, though its large Islamic Socialist Caucus explicitly supports an Islamic interpretation of socialism, and is more socially conservative than other sections of the party.

Arab Christians

Arab Christians are often considered a separate minority confession within Acre, similar to the Arabic-speaking Druze; ethnically however they are comparable to Muslim Arabs, and, like Muslim Arabs, tend to reside either in Acre or Haifa. Many also support the PDU, generally making up the bulk of its Pan-Arabist Caucus. Arab Christians are however rather fluid politically, often moving between the PDU and the minority-interests Peace & Equality Party.

Minorities

Acre is home to many immigrant groups, though most are too small to constitute a recognisable confession; only the Druze, Bahá'í and Arab Christians (when considered a minority group separate from the wider Arab population) truly constitute minority confessions.

Druze

The Druze are a noticeable monotheistic ethno-religious confession in Acre, comprising about 7% of Haifa's population. The community votes overwhelmingly for the minority-interests Peace & Equality Party.

Baháʼís

The Bahá'ís are in fact an extremely small confession in Acre, as the Bahá'í religion prohibits teaching the faith to residents of Israel. Nonetheless, the Bahá'í faith is visually present in Acre, as it is home to two of the holiest sites in the faith - the Shrine of the Báb (and its gardens); and the Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh. The Baháʼí gardens dominate the Haifa landscape, and are a key aspect of the city's identity. As such, a small number of Bahá'í and non-Bahá'í staff work to run these holy sites; given the importance of these religious centres, they are granted a vote by the Akkan government during their stay in the country. Like other minority groups in the country, most vote for the Peace & Equality Party.

Non-confessionalism

The Akkan political system does not guarantee a proportional number of seats for confessional parties, and so there is no requirement for political movements to source support from a single confession. The Liberal Union and the Communist Party are both formally non-confessional, though the former sources almost all of its support from the Israeli population. Only the Communist Party may therefore be considered truly non-confessional, receiving support from Israeli, Russian-speaking-Israeli and Arab populations rather proportionally.

The People's Democratic Union might be considered pan-confessional in that it appeals not only to Sunni Muslim Arabs, but also to Arab Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims. Many radical leftist Israelis are also members of the PDU, and are members of a Non-confessional Caucus within the party with other Arab radicals.