1965 Israeli legislative election
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Elections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1965. Voter turnout was 80.4%.
Background
Prior to the elections, two major alliances were formed; Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda united to form the Alignment, whilst Herut and the Liberal Party had formed the Gahal alliance towards the end of the previous Knesset session. However, both Mapai and the Liberal Party had been hit by breakaway factions, the Ben-Gurion led Rafi and the Independent Liberals (largely composed of former Progressive Party members) respectively.
The communist Maki had also experienced a split earlier in the year, with most of its Arab members and some Jewish members breaking away to establish Rakah.
A new Mapai-affiliated Arab party, Cooperation and Brotherhood was formed to fight the election, whilst the Arab Socialist List was prevented from running by the Central Elections Committee due to its links with the banned al-Ard organisation.
Peace activist Abie Nathan entered a party list, Nes.
Results
| Party | Votes | % of vote | Seats at start of session | Seats at end of session |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alignment ¹ | 443,379 | 36.7% | 45 | 63 |
| Gahal ² | 256,957 | 21.3% | 26 | 22 |
| National Religious Party | 107,966 | 8.9% | 11 | 11 |
| Rafi ¹ | 95,328 | 7.9% | 10 | 0 |
| Mapam ¹ | 79,985 | 6.6% | 8 | 0 |
| Independent Liberals ¹ | 45,299 | 3.8% | 5 | 4 |
| Agudat Yisrael | 39,795 | 3.3% | 4 | 4 |
| Rakah | 27,413 | 2.3% | 3 | 3 |
| Progress and Development ³ | 23,430 | 1.9% | 2 | 1 |
| Poalei Agudat Yisrael | 22,066 | 1.8% | 2 | 2 |
| Cooperation and Brotherhood ³ | 16,464 | 1.3% | 2 | 1 |
| HaOlam HaZeh – Koah Hadash | 14,124 | 1.2% | 1 | 1 |
| Maki | 13,617 | 1.1% | 1 | 1 |
| Movement for Brotherhood | 11,244 | 0.9% | 0 | 0 |
| Peace List | 5,536 | 0.5% | 0 | 0 |
| Nes | 2,135 | 0.2% | 0 | 0 |
| Young Israel | 1,990 | 0.2% | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 1,206,728 | 100% | 120 | 120 |
| Free Centre ² | - | - | 0 | 4 |
| Druze Party ³ | - | - | 0 | 1 |
| Jewish-Arab Brotherhood ³ | - | - | 0 | 1 |
| David Ben Gurion ¹ | - | - | 0 | 1 |
| Cooperation and Development ³ | - | - | 0 | 0 |
¹ Rafi and Mapam joined the Alignment, though David Ben-Gurion of Rafi disagreed with the merger and remained a single MK. In addition, Yizhar Harari left the Independent Liberals to join the Alignment.
² Free Centre broke away from Gahal
³ Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood merged to form Cooperation and Development, which then broke up into the two original parties, the Druze Party and Jewish-Arab Brotherhood
The Sixth Knesset
The sixth Knesset started with Levi Eshkol's Alignment forming the thirteenth government on 12 January, 1966. His coalition included the National Religious Party, Mapam, the Independent Liberals, Agudat Israel Workers, Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood, and had eighteen ministers. Kadish Luz of the Alignment retained his position as Knesset Speaker. At the end of August, 1966 the new Knesset at Givat Ram in Jerusalem was opened. When the Six-Day War broke out on 5 June, 1967, Gahal and Rafi joined the coalition to form a national unity government with 21 ministers. The government was ended by Eshkol's death on 26 February, 1969.
Golda Meir of the Alignment formed the fourteenth government, also a national unity government, on 17 March, 1969. The coalition partners were Gahal, the National Religious Party, the Independent Liberals, Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood.
The sixth Knesset is notable for being the only one in which a party has ever held a majority of the seats by itself. By the end of the session, the merger of Mapam and Rafi into the Alignment left it with 63 seats (53% of the total). Although the party came close to equalling the feat in the 1969 elections, when it won 56 seats (which is still the best electoral performance on record), no party has managed it since.