1959 Israeli legislative election

Elections for the fourth Knesset were held in Israel on 3 November, 1959. Voter turnout was 79.5%.

Results

Party	Votes	% of vote	Seats at start of session	Seats at end of session
Mapai	370,585	38.2%	47	47
Herut	130,515	13.5%	17	17
National Religious Party	95,581	9.9%	12	12
Mapam	69,468	7.2%	9	9
General Zionists ¹	59,700	6.2%	8	0
Ahdut HaAvoda	58,043	6.0%	7	7
Religious Torah Front ²	45,569	4.7%	6	6
Progressive Party ¹	44,889	4.6%	6	0
Maki	27,374	2.8%	3	3
Progress and Development	12,347	1.3%	2	2
Cooperation and Brotherhood	11,104	1.1%	2	2
Agriculture and Development	10,902	1.1%	1	1
Union of North African Immigrants	8,199	0.8%	0	0
Progress and Work	4,651	0.5%	0	0
Independent Faction for Israeli Arabs	3,818	0.4%	0	0
Israeli Arab Labour Party	3,369	0.3%	0	0
Sephardi National Party	3,133	0.3%	0	0
National Union	2,456	0.2%	0	0
Holocaust Handicapped and Injured Faction	1,765	0.2%	0	0
Yemenite Faction	1,711	0.2%	0	0
Independents	1,611	0.2%	0	0
Socialist Union (Bund)	1,322	0.1%	0	0
New Immigrants Front	631	0.1%	0	0
Third Power	594	0.1%	0	0
Total	969,337	100%	120	100
Liberal Party ¹	-	-	0	14
Agudat Yisrael ²	-	-	0	4
Poalei Agudat Yisrael ²	-	-	0	2
Total			120	120

¹ The General Zionists and the Progressive Party merged to form the Liberal Party

² The Religious Torah Front split into its two constituent parts, Agudat Yisrael and Poalei Agudat Yisrael

The Fourth Knesset

See also: List of members of the fourth Knesset

The fourth Knesset started with David Ben-Gurion's Mapai party forming the ninth government on 17 December 1959. His coalition included the National Religious Party, Mapam, Ahdut HaAvoda, the Progressive Party and the three Israeli Arab parties, Progress and Development, Cooperation and Brotherhood and Agriculture and Development. The government had 16 ministers. Mapai's Kadish Luz became the Speaker of the Knesset.

The government collapsed when Ben-Gurion resigned on 31 January 1961, over a motion of no-confidence brought by Herut and the General Zionists concerning the Lavon Affair. After Ben-Gurion was unable to form a new government new elections were called. At only one year and nine months, the fourth Knesset is the shortest Knesset term to date.

External links

• Historical overview of the Fourth Knesset Knesset website
• Elections to the Fourth Knesset Knesset website
• Factional and Government Make-Up of the Fourth Knesset Knesset website