1996 Israeli general election
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Elections for the fourteenth Knesset were held in Israel alongside the first ever election for Prime Minister on 29 May, 1996. Voter turnout was 79.3%.
Results
| Party | Votes | % | Seats at start of session |
Seats at end of session |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour 1 2 | 818,570 | 26.8% | 34 | 29 |
| Likud-Gesher-Tzomet 2 3 | 767,178 | 25.1% | 32 | 19 |
| Shas | 259,759 | 8.5% | 10 | 10 |
| National Religious Party 4 | 240,224 | 7.8% | 9 | 7 |
| Meretz 5 | 226,257 | 7.4% | 9 | 7 |
| Yisrael BaAliyah 6 | 174,928 | 5.7% | 7 | 5 |
| Hadash-Balad 7 | 129,455 | 4.2% | 5 | 3 |
| United Torah Judaism 8 | 98,655 | 3.2% | 4 | 3 |
| The Third Way 9 | 96,457 | 3.1% | 4 | 3 |
| United Arab List | 89,513 | 2.9% | 4 | 4 |
| Moledet 10 | 71,982 | 2.4% | 2 | 3 |
| Non-qualifiers | 78,012 | 2.6% | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 3,051,592 | 100% | 120 | 120 |
| Centre Party 2 11 | - | - | 0 | 5 |
| Herut – The National Movement 3 | - | - | 0 | 3 |
| Gesher 3 | - | - | 0 | 3 |
| One Nation 1 | - | - | 0 | 3 |
| Tzomet 3 10 | - | - | 0 | 2 |
| Tkuma 4 | - | - | 0 | 2 |
| Aliyah 6 | - | - | 0 | 2 |
| Shinui 5 11 | - | - | 0 | 2 |
| Balad 7 | - | - | 0 | 2 |
| Degel HaTorah 8 | - | - | 0 | 1 |
| David Zucker 5 | - | - | 0 | 1 |
| Emanuel Zisman 9 | - | - | 0 | 1 |
| Mekhora 10 | - | - | 0 | 0 |
| HaTzeirim 11 | - | - | 0 | 0 |
| Source: Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs | ||||
1 One Nation broke away from Labour.
2 Two MKs from Labour and four from Likud left to form the Centre Party. One MK later left to join Shinui.
3 Gesher, Herut and Tzomet broke away from the Likud-Gesher-Tzomet alliance.
4 Tkuma broke away from the National Religious Party.
5 Shinui and David Zucker broke away from Meretz
6 Aliyah broke away from Yisrael BaAliyah.
7 Balad left its alliance with Hadash.
8 Degel HaTorah broke away from United Torah Judaism, which changed its name to Agudat Israel.
9 Emanuel Zisman left The Third Way.
10 Moshe Peled broke away from Tzomet and formed Mekhora before joining Moledet.
11 Eliezer Sandberg broke away from the Centre Party and formed HaTzeirim before joining Shinui.
Non-qualifiers
The following parties ran in the election, but did not cross the electoral threshold:
- Gil
- Men's Rights
- Organization for Democratic Action
- Progressive Confederation
- Settlement Party
- Telem
- Unity for the Defence of New Immigrants
- Yamin Israel
In addition, two parties announced their intention to run in the election, but withdrew before election day:
- Arabic Alliance for Progress and Change (headed by Ahmad Tibi)
- Moreshet Avot
The fourteenth Knesset
Although Labour won the Knesset election, 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 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.
External links
- Historical overview of the Fourteenth Knesset Knesset website Template:En icon
- Election results Knesset website
