Israeli legislative election, 1996
Encyclopedia
Elections for the fourteenth Knesset were held in Israel
on 29 May 1996. Voter turnout was 79.3%.
The 1996 elections included two new changes, both designed to increase the stability of the Knesset. First, the Prime Minister
was to be elected
on a separate ballot from the remaining members of the Knesset. Second, the election threshold
for allocation of a seat was raised to 2% from 1.5%.
1 Three MKs left the Labor Party to establish One Nation.
2 Two MKs from the Labor Party and four from Likud left to form the Centre Party
. Eliezer Sandberg
later broke away from the Centre Party and formed HaTzeirim before joining Shinui.
3 Three MKs left Likud to establish Herut – The National Movement. Three members of Gesher and two members of Tzomet also left alliance.
4 Two MKs left the National Religious Party to establish Tkuma.
5 Avraham Poraz
left Meretz to establish Shinui
, whilst David Zucker also left the party.
6 Two MKs left Yisrael BaAliyah to establish Aliyah
.
7 Balad left its alliance with Hadash.
8 United Torah Judaism split into Agudat Yisrael (three seats) and Degel HaTorah
(one seat)
9 Emanuel Zisman
left The Third Way.
10 Moshe Peled
broke away from Tzomet and formed Mekhora
before joining Moledet.
Alongside his Likud-Gesher-Tzomet alliance, Netanyahu formed a coalition with Shas, the National Religious Party, Yisrael BaAliyah, United Torah Judaism and The Third Way, with 18 ministers.
Gesher broke away from the alliance with Likud and left the government coalition in January 1998.
Netanyahu faced several issues; the left argued the peace process was advancing too slowly, but signing the Hebron Agreement
and the Wye River Memorandum
also caused him problems with the right-wing.
Eventually problems passing the state budget for 1999 led to early elections for both the Knesset and Prime Minister being called, which were held in May 1999.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
on 29 May 1996. Voter turnout was 79.3%.
The 1996 elections included two new changes, both designed to increase the stability of the Knesset. First, the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Israel
The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
was to be elected
Israeli prime ministerial election, 1996
The first ever election for Prime Minister was held in Israel on 29 May 1996 alongside simultaneous Knesset elections. There were only two candidates: Shimon Peres of the Labour Party and Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud. The result was a surprise win for Netanyahu by a margin of 29,457 votes, less than...
on a separate ballot from the remaining members of the Knesset. Second, the election threshold
Election threshold
In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament...
for allocation of a seat was raised to 2% from 1.5%.
Results
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor Party 1 2 | 818,741 | 26.8 | 34 | |
| Likud Likud Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had... -Gesher-Tzomet Tzomet Tzomet is a small secular, right-wing political party in Israel.-Ideology:The party was the one who first brought the "peace for peace" slogan, which today is used by all Israeli right wing parties and movements... 2 3 |
767,401 | 25.1 | 32 | |
| Shas Shas Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ... |
259,796 | 8.5 | 10 | |
| National Religious Party National Religious Party The National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992... 4 |
240,271 | 7.8 | 9 | |
| Meretz 5 | 226,275 | 7.4 | 9 | |
| Yisrael BaAliyah 6 | 174,994 | 5.7 | 7 | New |
| Hadash Hadash Hadash is a Jewish and Arab socialist front of organizations that runs for the Israeli parliament. It currently has four members in the 120-seat Knesset.-Background:... -Balad 7 |
129,455 | 4.2 | 5 | |
| United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi political parties in the Knesset. It was first formed in 1992.The two parties have not always agreed with each other about policy matters... 8 |
98,657 | 3.2 | 4 | 0 |
| The Third Way Third Way (Israel) The Third Way was a political party in Israel in the 1990s.- Background :The party was formed on 7 March 1996 towards the end of the thirteenth Knesset's term when two MKs, Avigdor Kahalani and Emanuel Zisman, broke away from the Labour Party... 9 |
96,474 | 3.1 | 4 | New |
| United Arab List United Arab List The United Arab List , commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Ra'am , is a political party representing and supported by Israeli Arabs... |
89,514 | 2.9 | 4 | New |
| Moledet Moledet Moledet is a small right-wing political party in Israel. It advocates the notion of encouraging voluntary population transfer of the Arab population of the West Bank. Moledet was founded in 1988 by Rehavam Ze'evi, who headed it until his assassination by members of the PFLP in 2001, after which... 10 |
72,002 | 2.4 | 2 | |
| Unity for the Defence of New Immigrants Unity for Peace and Immigration Unity for Peace and Immigration was a short-lived one man political faction in Israel in the early 1990s.-Background:The faction was formed when Efraim Gur broke away from the Alignment in 1990, during the term of the 12th Knesset. Gur was invited to join Yitzhak Shamir's new government which had... |
22,741 | 0.7 | 0 | New |
| Gil | 14,935 | 0.5 | 0 | New |
| Progressive Confederation | 13,983 | 0.5 | 0 | New |
| Telem Emuna Yosef Azran Yosef Azran was an Israeli rabbi and politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1988 and 1996, and as Deputy Minister of Finance from 1990 until 1992.-Biography:... |
12,737 | 0.4 | 0 | New |
| Settlement Party | 5,533 | 0.2 | 0 | New |
| Yamin Israel Yamin Israel Yamin Yisrael was a minor right-wing political party in Israel.-Background:The party was founded on 24 July 1995 when Shaul Gutman broke away from Moledet. It ran in the 1996 elections, but failed to cross the electoral threshold of 1.5% and did not win a seat.In the 2003 elections the party ran a... |
2,845 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Man's Rights in the Family Party | 2,388 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Ta'al Ta'al Ta'al is an Israeli Arab political party in Israel led by Ahmad Tibi.-History:Ta'al was founded by Tibi in the mid 1990s. It ran in the 1996 elections under the name Arab Union, but won only 2,087 votes . For the 1999 elections it ran as part of the Balad list. Tibi won a seat, and broke away from... |
2,087 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Organization for Democratic Action Organization for Democratic Action The Organisation for Democratic Action is a political party in Israel, where it is commonly known by the acronym, Da'am .-Name:The party has slightly different names in Arabic and Hebrew... |
1,351 | 0.0 | 0 | New |
| Invalid/blank votes | 67,702 | |||
| Total | 3,119,832 | 100 | 120 | 0 |
| Source: Nohlen et al | ||||
1 Three MKs left the Labor Party to establish One Nation.
2 Two MKs from the Labor Party and four from Likud left to form the Centre Party
Centre Party (Israel)
The Centre Party , originally known as Israel in the Centre, was a short-lived political party in Israel. Formed in 1999 by former Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, the aim was to create a group of moderates to challenge both Binyamin Netanyahu on the right and opposition leader Ehud Barak's...
. Eliezer Sandberg
Eliezer Sandberg
Eliezer Sandberg is a former Israeli politician who served as a government minister between 2003 and 2004.-Biography:Born in Haifa, Sandberg studied law at Tel Aviv University, gaining an LLB. He joined the Tzomet party, and became a member of its secretariat in 1988. He also served as the party's...
later broke away from the Centre Party and formed HaTzeirim before joining Shinui.
3 Three MKs left Likud to establish Herut – The National Movement. Three members of Gesher and two members of Tzomet also left alliance.
4 Two MKs left the National Religious Party to establish Tkuma.
5 Avraham Poraz
Avraham Poraz
Avraham Poraz is an Israeli lawyer and former politician.- Biography :Poraz was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1945 and immigrated to Israel in 1950...
left Meretz to establish Shinui
Shinui
Shinui is a Zionist, secular and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977 the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for...
, whilst David Zucker also left the party.
6 Two MKs left Yisrael BaAliyah to establish Aliyah
Aliyah (political party)
Yisrael HaMithadeshet , formerly known as Aliyah is a political party in Israel.-Background:The party was formed on 23 February 1999 during the 14th Knesset when MKs Michael Nudelman and Yuri Stern, both immigrants from Russia, broke away from Natan Sharansky's Yisrael BaAliyah...
.
7 Balad left its alliance with Hadash.
8 United Torah Judaism split into Agudat Yisrael (three seats) and Degel HaTorah
Degel HaTorah
Degel HaTorah is an Ashkenazi Haredi political party in Israel. For much of its existence it has been allied to Agudat Yisrael under the name United Torah Judaism.-Ideology:...
(one seat)
9 Emanuel Zisman
Emanuel Zisman
Emanuel Zisman was an Israeli politician and ambassador. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1988 and 1999.-Biography:...
left The Third Way.
10 Moshe Peled
Moshe Peled
Moshe Peled may refer to:*Moshe Peled, an Israeli politician who served as a Knesset member between 1992 and 1999.*Moshe Peled, an Israeli general during the Yom Kippur War...
broke away from Tzomet and formed Mekhora
Mekhora (political party)
-Background:The faction was formed on 4 March 1999, during the 14th Knesset, when MK Moshe Peled, a Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and Deputy Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, left Tzomet. The faction immediately merged into Moledet....
before joining Moledet.
The fourteenth Knesset
Labour retained its position as the largest party, but Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu won the election for Prime Minister, meaning he had the power to form the 27th government, which he did on 18 June, 1996.Alongside his Likud-Gesher-Tzomet alliance, Netanyahu formed a coalition with Shas, the National Religious Party, Yisrael BaAliyah, United Torah Judaism and The Third Way, with 18 ministers.
Gesher broke away from the alliance with Likud and left the government coalition in January 1998.
Netanyahu faced several issues; the left argued the peace process was advancing too slowly, but signing the Hebron Agreement
Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron
Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron, also known as The Hebron Protocol or Hebron Agreement, began January 7 and was concluded from January 15 to January 17, 1997 between Israel, represented by Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Palestine Liberation Organization ,...
and the Wye River Memorandum
Wye River Memorandum
The Wye River Memorandum was an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestine Authority to implement the earlier Interim Agreement of 28 September, 1995...
also caused him problems with the right-wing.
Eventually problems passing the state budget for 1999 led to early elections for both the Knesset and Prime Minister being called, which were held in May 1999.
External links
- Historical overview of the Fourteenth Knesset Knesset website
- Election results Knesset website
- Israel at the polls, 1996 By Daniel Judah Elazar, Shmuel Sandler