Israeli legislative election, 1955
Encyclopedia
Elections
for the third Knesset were held in Israel
on 26 July 1955. Voter turnout was 82.8%.
retained its plurality in the Knesset, although its share of the vote dropped by 5.1 and its share of seats dropped from 47 (at the end of the Second Knesset) to 40. Meanwhile, Herut
overtook the General Zionists
, Mapam
, and Hapoel HaMizrachi
to become the second-larget party, with its share of seats nearly doubling (from 8 in the Second Knesset to 15 in the Third).
The Third Knesset is notable for being the only Knesset thus far in which none of the represented parties merged or split (although two parties did change their names) and no MKs switched parties
, making it the most stable Knesset in Israel's history.
¹ Originally a coalition of Mizrachi
and Hapoel HaMizrachi
that ran for the election under the name National Religious Front before changing their name to Hapoel HaMizrachi-Mizrahi and then the National Religious Party during the term of the Knesset.
² The Religious Torah Front changed their name to Agudat Yisrael - Poalei Agudat Yisrael, then reverted to their original title before the next elections
.
, the third Knesset
was one of the most stable in Israel's history. There were only two governments, and it was the only Knesset to date during which none of the parties split or merged. As with the first
and second Knesset, the speaker was Yosef Sprinzak
until his death on 28 January, 1959. He was replaced by Ahdut HaAvoda's Nahum Nir
.
forming the seventh government of Israel (the previous two Knessets had six governments; two in the first and four in the second) on 3 November 1955. His Mapai party formed a coalition with the National Religious Front (which later changed its name to the National Religious Party), Mapam, the Progressive Party
, Ahdut HaAvoda, and the three Israeli Arab parties, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work, Agriculture and Development. The government had 16 ministers. It collapsed when Ben-Gurion resigned on 31 December 1957 over the leaking of information from ministerial meetings.
and refused to leave the coalition. Elections for the fourth Knesset
were called for 3 November 1959.
Elections in Israel
Elections in Israel are based on nationwide proportional representation. The electoral threshold is currently set at 2%, with the number of seats a party receives in the Knesset being proportional to the number of votes it receives. The Knesset is elected for a four-year term, although most...
for the third Knesset were held in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
on 26 July 1955. Voter turnout was 82.8%.
Results
MapaiMapai
Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968...
retained its plurality in the Knesset, although its share of the vote dropped by 5.1 and its share of seats dropped from 47 (at the end of the Second Knesset) to 40. Meanwhile, Herut
Herut
Herut was the major right-wing political party in Israel from the 1940s until its formal merger into Likud in 1988, and an adherent of Revisionist Zionism.-History:...
overtook the General Zionists
General Zionists
The General Zionists were centrists within the Zionist movement and a political party in Israel. Their political arm is an ancestor of the modern-day Likud.-History:...
, Mapam
Mapam
Mapam was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party.-History:Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party and Ahdut HaAvoda Poale Zion Movement. The party was originally Marxist-Zionist in its outlook and represented...
, and Hapoel HaMizrachi
Hapoel HaMizrachi
Hapoel HaMizrachi |Mizrachi]] Workers) was a political party and settlement movement in Israel and is one of the predecessors of the National Religious Party.-History:...
to become the second-larget party, with its share of seats nearly doubling (from 8 in the Second Knesset to 15 in the Third).
The Third Knesset is notable for being the only Knesset thus far in which none of the represented parties merged or split (although two parties did change their names) and no MKs switched parties
Party switching
Party-switching is any change in political party affiliation of a partisan public figure, usually one currently holding elected office.In many countries, party-switching takes the form of politicians refusing to support their political parties in coalition governments...
, making it the most stable Knesset in Israel's history.
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mapai Mapai Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968... |
274,735 | 32.2 | 40 | |
| Herut Herut Herut was the major right-wing political party in Israel from the 1940s until its formal merger into Likud in 1988, and an adherent of Revisionist Zionism.-History:... |
107,190 | 12.6 | 15 | |
| General Zionists General Zionists The General Zionists were centrists within the Zionist movement and a political party in Israel. Their political arm is an ancestor of the modern-day Likud.-History:... |
87,099 | 10.2 | 13 | |
| National Religious Front ¹ | 77,936 | 9.1 | 11 | |
| Ahdut HaAvoda Ahdut HaAvoda Ahdut HaAvoda was the name used by a sequence of political parties that existed firstly during Mandate Palestine and later in Israel. Its original version, led by David Ben-Gurion, is one of the main ancestors of the modern-day Israeli Labor Party.... |
69,475 | 8.2 | 10 | New |
| Mapam Mapam Mapam was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party.-History:Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party and Ahdut HaAvoda Poale Zion Movement. The party was originally Marxist-Zionist in its outlook and represented... |
62,401 | 7.3 | 9 | |
| Religious Torah Front Religious Torah Front The Religious Torah Front was a political alliance in Israel composed of Agudat Yisrael and Poalei Agudat Yisrael.-History:The Religious Torah Front was formed when the Ultra-orthodox parties Agudat Yisrael and Poalei Agudat Yisrael decided to fight the 1955 elections on a joint list.In the... ² |
39,836 | 4.7 | 6 | |
| Maki Maki (historical political party) Maki was a communist political party in Israel. It is not the same party as the modern day Maki, which split from it during the 1960s and later assumed its name.-History:... |
38,492 | 4.5 | 6 | |
| Progressive Party Progressive Party (Israel) The Progressive Party was a political party in Israel.-History:The Progressive Party was a liberal party, most of whose founders came from the ranks of the New Aliyah Party and HaOved HaTzioni, which had been active prior to independence... |
37,661 | 4.4 | 5 | |
| Democratic List for Israeli Arabs Democratic List for Israeli Arabs The Democratic List for Israeli Arabs was a political party in Israel.-History:In the 1951 elections the party gained 2% of the vote and won 3 seats, which were taken by Seif el-Din el-Zoubi, Masaad Kassis and Jabr Muadi... |
15,475 | 1.8 | 2 | |
| Progress and Work Progress and Work Progress and Work was a political party in Israel.-History:The Progress and Work party was an Israeli Arab organisation formed to fight the 1951 elections... |
12,511 | 1.5 | 2 | |
| Agriculture and Development Agriculture and Development Agriculture and Development was a political party in Israel.-History:Agriculture and Development was an Israeli Arab organisation formed to fight the 1951 elections... |
9,791 | 1.1 | 1 | 0 |
| Sephardim and Oriental Communities Sephardim and Oriental Communities Sephardim and Oriental Communities was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Likud party.-History:The Sephardim and Oriental Communities party represented Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews who were already living in Israel at the time of independence, and was part... |
6,994 | 0.8 | 0 | |
| Arab List - The Centre | 4,484 | 0.5 | 0 | New |
| Likud - Popular Economic Movement | 3,044 | 0.4 | 0 | New |
| Yemenite Association Yemenite Association The Yemenite Association was a political party in Israel.-History:The party was founded by Yemenite Jews in 1923. It took part in Israel's first elections in 1949, crossing the electoral threshold by just 53 votes, and winning one seat, which was taken by Zecharia Glosca.Despite the influx of... |
2,459 | 0.3 | 0 | |
| Sons of Yemen and Religious Nonpartisan Movement - Original Religious List | 2,448 | 0.3 | 0 | New |
| New Immigrants' List | 1,188 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Invalid/blank votes | 22,969 | |||
| Total | 876,188 | 100 | 120 | 0 |
| Source: Nohlen et al | ||||
¹ Originally a coalition of Mizrachi
Mizrachi (political party)
Mizrachi was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day National Religious Party.-History:The Mizrachi movement was founded in 1902 in Vilnius as a religious Zionist organisation. It also had a trade union, Hapoel HaMizrachi, started in 1921...
and Hapoel HaMizrachi
Hapoel HaMizrachi
Hapoel HaMizrachi |Mizrachi]] Workers) was a political party and settlement movement in Israel and is one of the predecessors of the National Religious Party.-History:...
that ran for the election under the name National Religious Front before changing their name to Hapoel HaMizrachi-Mizrahi and then the National Religious Party during the term of the Knesset.
² The Religious Torah Front changed their name to Agudat Yisrael - Poalei Agudat Yisrael, then reverted to their original title before the next elections
Israeli legislative election, 1959
Elections for the fourth Knesset were held in Israel on 3 November 1959. Voter turnout was 81.5%.-Results:¹ The General Zionists and the Progressive Party merged to form the Liberal Party....
.
The Third Knesset
Unlike the second KnessetIsraeli legislative election, 1951
Elections for the second Knesset were held in Israel on 30 July 1951. Voter turnout was 75.1%.-Results:¹ Rostam Bastuni, Avraham Berman and Moshe Sneh left Mapam and set up the Left Faction. Bastuni later returned to Mapam whilst Berman and Sneh joined Maki. Hannah Lamdan and David Livschitz left...
, the third Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
was one of the most stable in Israel's history. There were only two governments, and it was the only Knesset to date during which none of the parties split or merged. As with the first
Israeli legislative election, 1949
Elections for the Constituent Assembly were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset...
and second Knesset, the speaker was Yosef Sprinzak
Yosef Sprinzak
Yosef Sprinzak was a leading Zionist activist in the first half of the 20th century, an Israeli politician, and the first Speaker of the Knesset, a role he held from 1949 until his death in 1959....
until his death on 28 January, 1959. He was replaced by Ahdut HaAvoda's Nahum Nir
Nahum Nir
Dr Nahum Nir was a Zionist activist, Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence. He is the only Speaker of the Knesset to date not to have been a member of the ruling party.-Biography:...
.
Seventh government
The third Knesset started with David Ben-GurionDavid Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
forming the seventh government of Israel (the previous two Knessets had six governments; two in the first and four in the second) on 3 November 1955. His Mapai party formed a coalition with the National Religious Front (which later changed its name to the National Religious Party), Mapam, the Progressive Party
Progressive Party (Israel)
The Progressive Party was a political party in Israel.-History:The Progressive Party was a liberal party, most of whose founders came from the ranks of the New Aliyah Party and HaOved HaTzioni, which had been active prior to independence...
, Ahdut HaAvoda, and the three Israeli Arab parties, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work, Agriculture and Development. The government had 16 ministers. It collapsed when Ben-Gurion resigned on 31 December 1957 over the leaking of information from ministerial meetings.
Eighth government
Ben-Gurion formed the eighth government a week later on 7 January 1958 with the same coalition partners. The number of ministers remained the same. The eighth government collapsed when Ben-Gurion resigned again on 5 July 1959 after Labour Unity and Mapam had voted against the government on the issue of selling arms to West GermanyWest Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and refused to leave the coalition. Elections for the fourth Knesset
Israeli legislative election, 1959
Elections for the fourth Knesset were held in Israel on 3 November 1959. Voter turnout was 81.5%.-Results:¹ The General Zionists and the Progressive Party merged to form the Liberal Party....
were called for 3 November 1959.
External links
- Historical overview of the Third Knesset Knesset website
- Election results Knesset website