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| Turnout | 82.8% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Elections for the third Knesset were held in Israel on 26 July 1955. Voter turnout was 82.8%. [1]
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| Turnout | 82.8% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Elections for the third Knesset were held in Israel on 26 July 1955. Voter turnout was 82.8%. [1]
The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 2nd Knesset.
Mapai retained its plurality in the Knesset, although its share of the vote dropped by 5.1 and its share of seats dropped from 47 (at the end of the Second Knesset) to 40. Meanwhile, Herut overtook the General Zionists, Mapam, and Hapoel HaMizrachi to become the second-largest party, with its share of seats nearly doubling (from 8 in the Second Knesset to 15 in the Third).
The Third Knesset is notable for being the only Knesset thus far in which none of the represented parties merged or split (although two parties did change their names) and no MKs switched parties, making it the most stable Knesset in Israel's history.
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| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Mapai | 274,735 | 32.20 | 40 | −5 | |
| Herut | 107,190 | 12.56 | 15 | +7 | |
| General Zionists | 87,099 | 10.21 | 13 | −7 | |
| National Religious Front | 77,936 | 9.13 | 11 | +1 | |
| Ahdut HaAvoda | 69,475 | 8.14 | 10 | New | |
| Mapam | 62,401 | 7.31 | 9 | −6 | |
| Religious Torah Front | 39,836 | 4.67 | 6 | +1 | |
| Maki | 38,492 | 4.51 | 6 | +1 | |
| Progressive Party | 37,661 | 4.41 | 5 | +1 | |
| Democratic List for Israeli Arabs | 15,475 | 1.81 | 2 | −1 | |
| Progress and Work | 12,511 | 1.47 | 2 | +1 | |
| Agriculture and Development | 9,791 | 1.15 | 1 | 0 | |
| Sephardim and Oriental Communities | 6,994 | 0.82 | 0 | −2 | |
| Arab List – The Centre | 4,484 | 0.53 | 0 | New | |
| Likud – Popular Economic Movement | 3,044 | 0.36 | 0 | New | |
| Yemenite Association | 2,459 | 0.29 | 0 | −1 | |
| Original Religious List | 2,448 | 0.29 | 0 | New | |
| New Immigrants' List | 1,188 | 0.14 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 853,219 | 100.00 | 120 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 853,219 | 97.38 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 22,969 | 2.62 | |||
| Total votes | 876,188 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 1,057,795 | 82.83 | |||
| Source: CEC, Nohlen et al. | |||||
Unlike the second Knesset, the third Knesset was one of the most stable in Israel's history. There were only two governments, and it was the only Knesset to date during which none of the parties split or merged. As with the first and second Knesset, the speaker was Yosef Sprinzak until his death on 28 January 1959. He was replaced by Ahdut HaAvoda's Nahum Nir.
The third Knesset started with David Ben-Gurion forming the seventh government of Israel (the previous two Knessets had six governments; two in the first and four in the second) on 3 November 1955. His Mapai party formed a coalition with the National Religious Front (which later changed its name to the National Religious Party), Mapam, the Progressive Party, Ahdut HaAvoda, and the three Israeli Arab parties, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work, Agriculture and Development. The government had 16 ministers. It collapsed when Ben-Gurion resigned on 31 December 1957 over the leaking of information from ministerial meetings.
Ben-Gurion formed the eighth government a week later on 7 January 1958 with the same coalition partners. The number of ministers remained the same. The eighth government collapsed when Ben-Gurion resigned again on 5 July 1959 after Labour Unity and Mapam had voted against the government on the issue of selling arms to West Germany and refused to leave the coalition. Elections for the fourth Knesset were called for 3 November 1959.
Mapai was a Labor Zionist and democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the modern-day Israeli Labor Party in January 1968. During Mapai's time in office, a wide range of progressive reforms were carried out, as characterised by the establishment of a welfare state, providing minimum income, security, and free access to housing subsidies and health and social services.
Rafi was a center-left political party in Israel, founded by former Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion in 1965. In 1968 it was one of three parties that merged to form the Israeli Labor Party.
Elections for the second Knesset were held in Israel on 30 July 1951. Voter turnout was 75.1%.
Legislative elections were held in Israel on 3 November 1959 to elect the 120 members of the fourth Knesset. Mapai remained the dominant party, gaining seven seats. Following the elections, Mapai leader David Ben-Gurion formed 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.
Elections for the fifth Knesset were held in Israel on 15 August 1961. Voter turnout was 81.6%.
The Faction independent of Ahdut HaAvoda was a short-lived political party in Israel.
Elections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 2 November 1965. Voter turnout was 85.9%.
Aharon Zisling, also spelled Aharon Cizling, was an Israeli politician and minister and a signatory of Israel's declaration of independence.
The Alignment was the name of two political alliances in Israel, both of which ended their existence by merging, in January 1968 and October 1991, into the Israeli Labor Party.
The seventh government of Israel was formed by David Ben-Gurion on 3 November 1955 following the July 1955 elections. His coalition included Mapai, the National Religious Front, Mapam, Ahdut HaAvoda, and the Israeli Arab parties, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work and Agriculture and Development.
The eighth government of Israel was formed by David Ben-Gurion on 7 January 1958, and was the second government of the third Knesset. Ben-Gurion kept the same coalition partners as during the previous government, i.e. Mapai, the National Religious Party, Mapam, Ahdut HaAvoda, the Progressive Party, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work and Agriculture and Development. The only change to the cabinet was the addition of Shlomo-Yisrael Ben-Meir as a Deputy Minister.
The ninth government of Israel was formed by David Ben-Gurion on 17 December 1959 following the November 1959 elections. Ben-Gurion largely kept the same coalition partners as during the previous government, and added the new Israeli Arab parties Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood.
The tenth government of Israel was formed on 2 November 1961 following the August elections. Although David Ben-Gurion was appointed prime minister, the government was actually formed by Minister of Finance Levi Eshkol. On 7 September Ben-Gurion had told President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi that he was unable to form a government; on 14 September Ben-Zvi asked Eshkol to form a government, with Eshkol subsequently announcing that he would do so with Ben-Gurion as PM. It turned out to be the last government led by Ben-Gurion.
The eleventh government of Israel was formed on 26 June 1963, midway through the fifth Knesset. It was the first government formed by Levi Eshkol following the second resignation of David Ben-Gurion.
The twelfth government of Israel was formed by Levi Eshkol on 22 December 1964, towards the end of the fifth Knesset.
Hannah Lamdan was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for several left-wing parties between 1949 and 1965.
The Israeli Labor Party, commonly known as HaAvoda, was a social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi. Until 1977, all Israeli prime ministers were affiliated with the Labor movement. The final party leader was Yair Golan, who was elected on 28 May 2024.
Mapam was a left-wing political party in Israel. It is one of the antecedents of the Meretz party and its successor, The Democrats.
Ahdut HaAvoda was the name used by a series of political parties in Israel. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period of British Mandate and later became part of the Israeli political establishment. It was one of the forerunners of the modern-day The Democrats.
The Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party of Palestine was a Marxist-Zionist political party in the British Mandate of Palestine, connected to the Hashomer Hatzair movement.
