Israeli legislative election, 1992

Elections for the 13th Knesset were held in Israel on 23 June 1992. The result was a victory for the left, led by Yitzhak Rabin's Labor Party, though their win was at least partially due to several small right-wing parties narrowly failing to cross the electoral threshold and thus effectively wasting votes for the right. Voter turnout was 77.4%.

Background

The ongoing South Lebanon conflict

Main article: South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000)

Operation Solomon

Main article: Operation Solomon

In 1991, the political and economic stability of Ethiopia deteriorated, as rebels mounted attacks against and eventually controlled the capital city of Addis Ababa. Worried about the fate of the Beta Israel community during the transition period, the Israeli government along with several private groups prepared to continue covertly with the migration. Over the course of the next 36 hours, a total of 34 El Al passenger planes, with their seats removed to maximize passenger capacity, flew 14,325 Beta Israel non-stop to Israel. Again, the operation was mainly carried out due to the intervention and international pressure of the U.S.

Results

The Labor Party chairman Yitzhak Rabin. After winning the 1992 elections, Rabin managed to form the first Labor-led government in 15 years, supported by a coalition with Meretz, a left wing party, and Shas, a Mizrahi ultra-orthodox religious party.

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/-
Labor Party 1	906,810	34.7	44	+5
Likud 2	651,229	24.9	32	-8
Meretz	250,667	9.6	12	+2
Tzomet 3	166,366	6.4	8	+6
National Religious Party	129,663	5.0	6	+1
Shas 4	129,347	4.9	6	0
United Torah Judaism 5	86,167	3.3	4	-3
Hadash	62,545	2.4	3	-1
Moledet 6	62,269	2.4	3	-1
Arab Democratic Party	40,788	1.6	2	+1
Tehiya	31,957	1.2	0	-3
Progressive List for Peace	24,181	0.9	0	-1
New Liberal Party	16,669	0.6	0	New
Geulat Yisrael	12,851	0.5	0	New
Da	11,697	0.4	0	New
Yad BeYad	8,327	0.3	0	New
Movement for Mortgage Affected, Homeless and Demobilised Soldiers	5,962	0.2	0	0
Pikanti	3,750	0.1	0	New
Torah VeAretz	3,708	0.1	0	New
On Wheels	3,355	0.1	0	New
Women's Party	2,886	0.1	0	New
Hatikva	2,053	0.1	0	New
Natural Law Party	1,734	0.1	0	New
Tali	1,336	0.1	0	New
Tzipor	523	0.0	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	21,102	-	-	-
Total	2,637,943	100	120	0
Source: Nohlen et al

¹ Two MKs left the Labor Party to establish the Third Way, whilst Nava Arad also left the party.

² Two MKs left Likud to establish Gesher, whilst Efraim Gur also left the party.

³ Three MKs left Tzomet to establish Yiud. One MK then left Yiud to establish Atid.

⁴ Yosef Azran left Shas.

⁵ United Torah Judaism split into Agudat Yisrael (two seats) and Degel HaTorah (two seats).

⁶ One MK left Moldet to establish Yamin Yisrael, whilst Yosef Ba-Gad also left the party.

The Thirteenth Knesset

See also: List of members of the thirteenth Knesset

Labour's Yitzhak Rabin formed the twenty-fifth government on 13 July 1992, including Meretz and Shas in his coalition, which had 17 ministers. Hadash and the Arab Democratic Party also supported the government despite not being coalition members. Shas left the coalition in September 1993, and Yiud joined in January 1995.

Rabin's government advanced the peace process to unprecedented levels; the Oslo Accords were signed with Yasser Arafat's PLO in 1993 and the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace in 1994. The government's willingness to make peace with Syria and concede the Golan Heights led to Avigdor Kahalani and Emanuel Zisman leaving the party to form the Third Way.

After Rabin's assassination on 4 November 1995, Shimon Peres took over as Prime Minister and formed a new government on 22 November 1995. His coalition was the same as before; Labor, Meretz and Yiud. Peres called early elections in 1996 in order to seek a mandate to continue the peace process, in which he lost.

External links

• Historical overview of the Thirteenth Knesset Knesset website
• Election results Knesset website