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All 120 seats in the Knesset 61 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 85.86% ( 4.29pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Elections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 2 November 1965. [1] [2] Voter turnout was 85.9%. [3]
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 contest 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.
The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 6th Knesset.
| Name | Ideology | Symbol | Leader | 1961 result | Seats at 1964 dissolution | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | ||||||
| Mapai | Social Democracy Labor Zionism | א | Levi Eshkol | 34.7% | 42 / 120 | 34 / 120 | |
| Herut | Revisionist Zionism | ח | Menachem Begin | 13.8% | 17 / 120 | 17 / 120 | |
| Libralit | Liberalism | ל | Peretz Bernstein Yosef Serlin | 13.6% | 17 / 120 | 10 / 120 | |
| Mafdal | Religious Zionism | ב | Haim-Moshe Shapira | 9.8% | 12 / 120 | 12 / 120 | |
| Mapam | Labor Zionism Socialism | מ | Meir Ya'ari | 7.8% | 9 / 120 | 9 / 120 | |
| Ahdut HaAvoda | Labor Zionism | תו | Yisrael Galili | 6.6% | 8 / 120 | 8 / 120 | |
| Rafi | Social democracy | כא | David Ben-Gurion | - | 0 / 120 | 8 / 120 | |
| Independent Liberals | Liberalism | לע | Pinchas Rosen | - | 0 / 120 | 7 / 120 | |
| Maki | Communism | ק | Shmuel Mikunis | 4.2% | 5 / 120 | 5 / 120 | |
| Agudat Yisrael | Religious conservatism | ג | Yitzhak-Meir Levin | 3.7% | 4 / 120 | 4 / 120 | |
| Poalei Agudat Yisrael | Religious conservatism | ד | Kalman Kahana | 1.9% | 2 / 120 | 2 / 120 | |
| Cooperation and Brotherhood | Arab satellite list | יא | Diyab Obeid | 1.9% | 2 / 120 | 2 / 120 | |
| Progress and Development | Arab satellite list | רא | Ahmed A-Dahar | 1.6% | 2 / 120 | 2 / 120 | |
 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Labour Alignment | 443,379 | 36.74 | 45 | −5 | |
| Gahal | 256,957 | 21.29 | 26 | −8 | |
| National Religious Party | 107,966 | 8.95 | 11 | −1 | |
| Rafi | 95,328 | 7.90 | 10 | New | |
| Mapam | 79,985 | 6.63 | 8 | −1 | |
| Independent Liberals | 45,299 | 3.75 | 5 | New | |
| Agudat Yisrael | 39,795 | 3.30 | 4 | 0 | |
| Rakah | 27,413 | 2.27 | 3 | New | |
| Progress and Development | 23,430 | 1.94 | 2 | 0 | |
| Poalei Agudat Yisrael | 22,066 | 1.83 | 2 | 0 | |
| Cooperation and Brotherhood | 16,464 | 1.36 | 2 | 0 | |
| HaOlam HaZeh – Koah Hadash | 14,124 | 1.17 | 1 | New | |
| Maki | 13,617 | 1.13 | 1 | −4 | |
| Movement for Brotherhood | 11,244 | 0.93 | 0 | New | |
| Peace List | 5,536 | 0.46 | 0 | New | |
| Nes | 2,135 | 0.18 | 0 | New | |
| Young Israel | 1,990 | 0.16 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 1,206,728 | 100.00 | 120 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 1,206,728 | 96.95 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 37,978 | 3.05 | |||
| Total votes | 1,244,706 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 1,449,709 | 85.86 | |||
| Source: IDI, Nohlen et al. | |||||
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, Poalei Agudat Yisrael, 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.
In 1968 Rafi, Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda merged into the Labor Party in 1968, although David Ben-Gurion (Rafi) became an independent. In 1969 the Labor Party formed an alliance with Mapam also named the Alignment. The new Alignment held 63 seats, the only time a single faction has ever held a majority in the Knesset. Other affiliation changes during the Knesset term included Yizhar Harari leaving the Independent Liberals to join the Alignment, four MKs breaking away from Gahal to establish the Free Centre and Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood merging to form Cooperation and Development (which then broke up into the two original parties, the Druze Party and Jewish-Arab Brotherhood, each with a single seat).
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.
Gahal was the main right-leaning political alliance in Israel, ranging from the centre-right to right-wing, from its founding in 1965 until the establishment of Likud in 1973. It was led by Menachem Begin.
Elections for the second Knesset were held in Israel on 30 July 1951. Voter turnout was 75.1%.
Elections for the third Knesset were held in Israel on 26 July 1955. Voter turnout was 82.8%.
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 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.
The thirteenth government of Israel was formed by Levi Eshkol on 12 January 1966, following the November 1965 elections. His coalition included the Alignment, the National Religious Party, Mapam, the Independent Liberals, Poalei Agudat Yisrael, Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood, and had eighteen ministers.
The fourteenth government of Israel was formed by Golda Meir on 17 March 1969, following the death of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol on 26 February. She kept the same national unity government coalition, including the newly formed Alignment alliance of the Labor Party and Mapam, as well as Gahal, the National Religious Party, the Independent Liberals, Poalei Agudat Yisrael, Progress and Development, Cooperation and Brotherhood. The only change to the cabinet was the scrapping of the Minister of Information post, with the previous post-holder Yisrael Galili becoming a Minister without Portfolio instead.
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.
