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All 120 seats in the Knesset 61 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 67.44% (![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Legislative elections were held in Israel on 23 March 2021 to elect the 120 members of the 24th Knesset. It was the fourth Knesset election in two years, amidst the continued political deadlock following the previous three elections in April 2019, September 2019 and 2020. Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett announced that they had formed a rotation government on 2 June 2021, which was approved on 13 June 2021.
According to the coalition agreement signed between Likud and Blue and White in 2020, elections were to be held 36 months after the swearing-in of the 35th government, making 23 May 2023 the last possible election date. However, Israeli law stipulates that if the 2020 state budget was not passed by 23 December 2020, the Knesset would be dissolved, and elections would be held by 23 March 2021. [2]
On 2 December 2020, the Knesset passed the preliminary reading of a bill to dissolve the current government by a vote of 61–54. [3] On 21 December 2020, the Knesset failed to pass a bill to avoid dispersal by a vote of 47–49. [4] Since the Knesset had failed to approve the 2020 state budget by the required deadline, at midnight IST on 23 December 2020, the government coalition collapsed, and the 23rd Knesset was officially dissolved. In accordance with the law that the election must be held within 90 days after the dissolution of the Knesset, the date for elections to the 24th Knesset was automatically set for 23 March 2021. [5] Netanyahu was reported as facing a strong challenge from opposition parties. [6]
The 120 seats in the Knesset were elected by closed list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. The electoral threshold for this election was 3.25%. [7]
Two parties could sign a surplus vote agreement that allowed them to compete for leftover seats as if they were running together on the same list. The Bader–Ofer method slightly favours larger lists, meaning that alliances are more likely to receive leftover seats than parties would be individually. If the alliance receives leftover seats, the Bader–Ofer calculation is applied privately, to determine how the seats are divided among the two allied lists. [8]
The following parties signed surplus vote-sharing agreements for the 2021 election:
Leadership elections were held by some parties to determine party leadership ahead of the election. Primary elections were held by some parties in advance of the national election to determine the composition of their party list.
Knesset MK Sami Abu Shehadeh announced on 14 January 2021 that he would run for the leadership of Balad. [15] MK and former leader Mtanes Shehadeh sought re-election. The party held primaries on 23 January 2021 for its leader and its list for Knesset. The Balad council, which consists of a total of 600 members, were eligible to vote in Nazareth. [16] Abu Shehadeh was elected party leader by the Central Committee, with a total of 230 votes. [17]
Stav Shaffir was re-elected as the head of Green Party on 29 January 2021. [18]
On 5 January, incumbent Jewish Home party leader Rafi Peretz stated that he would not head the party and would not stand for re-election, but did not rule out a return to politics in the future. [19] Nir Orbach announced he would run for the leadership slot. [20] Hagit Moshe also ran (at Netanyahu's request). [21] The party's Central Committee selected its chair and party list, rather than holding a vote amongst party members. [22] Moshe was elected party leader by the Central Committee on 19 January 2021. [23] Party primaries were held on 26 January. [24]
The Tel Aviv District Court ruled on 3 January 2021 that primaries for Labor's Knesset list and leadership must take place, despite the fact that Amir Peretz and his supporters voted in favor of canceling them. MK Merav Michaeli announced she would run for party leadership shortly after. [25] Gil Beilin announced he would run on 11 January. [26] The Israeli High Court rejected an appeal by the Labor party, ensuring that all party members (instead of just committee members) will be able to vote in the primary. [27] Former Labor leader Ehud Barak announced on 18 January that he would not run, [28] while Itzik Shmuli announced the next day that he would not run. Avi Shaked and David Landsman, [29] Ethiopian immigrant Yitzhak Time, [30] and Na'ava Katz also ran. [31]
The vote for party leader was won by Michaeli on 24 January. [32]
The deadline for entering the Knesset primary was extended to 30 January; 59 candidates entered the race. [18] The primary election for choosing the Knesset slate took place 1 February. [33]
The Likud was ordered by its internal court to have its Constitutional Committee meet by 30 December to begin preparations for the selection of candidates for its electoral slate, following a petition filed by members of the party's Central Committee. [34] The party's Constitution Committee voted on 30 December to cancel party primaries, [35] which was made official on 2 January 2021. [36]
Meretz would have held a leadership election on 13 January 2021, while a primary for the rest of its electoral list would have been held on 21 January. [37] However, the party decided on 3 January 2021 to not hold primaries as no one challenged Nitzan Horowitz, the party leader. [38]
At the end of the 23rd Knesset, there were thirteen factions in parliament. The parties of these parliamentary factions are all fielding lists to compete in the 2021 elections, or are members of such lists, with the exception of The Jewish Home.
A total of 39 parties registered to contest the elections. [39]
Party or alliance | Head of list | Hebrew ballot letter | Arabic ballot letter |
---|---|---|---|
Am Shalem | Haim Amsalem | רף | ر ف |
Blue and White | Benny Gantz | כן | ك ن |
Bible Bloc | Dennis Lipkin | יק | ي ق |
Common Alliance | Bishara Shlian | ינ | ي ن |
Da'am Workers Party | Yoav Gal Tamir | ץ | ص |
Democratic Party (withdrawn) [40] | Haim Cohen | רק | ر ض |
The Israelis | Yaron Regev | ז | ز |
Hetz | Lior Shapira | צף | ص ف |
Hope for Change | Abd el-Karim Abucaf | רנ | ر ن |
Human Dignity | Arkadi Pogech | יף | ي ف |
Israeli Labor Party | Merav Michaeli | אמת | أ م ت |
Jewish Heart | Eli Yosef | כ | ك |
Likud | Benjamin Netanyahu | מחל | م ح ل |
Joint List | Ayman Odeh | ודעם | و ض ع م |
Kama | Dorit Liat Biran | נ | ن |
Ma'an (withdrawn) [40] | Mohammed Darawshe | צכ | ص ك |
Me and You | Alon Giladi | כך | ك خ |
Meretz | Nitzan Horowitz | מרצ | م ر ص |
Mishpat Tzedek | Larissa Amir | קץ | ق ص |
New Economic Party | Yaron Zelekha | יז | ي ز |
New Hope | Gideon Sa'ar | ת | ت |
New Order | Avital Ofek | קך | ق خ |
New World | Yoram Edri | ני | ن ي |
Atzmeinu (withdrawn) [41] | Dotan Sofer | צי | ص ي |
The Impossible – Possible | Noam Aryeh Coleman | ק | ق |
Pirate Party | Ohad Shem Tov | ףז | ف ز |
Rapeh only Health | Aryeh Avni | ר | ر |
Religious Zionist Party | Bezalel Smotrich | ט | ط |
Shas | Aryeh Deri | שס | ش س |
Shama | Naftali Baruch Goldman | קי | ق ي |
Social Bang – Pensioners | Tzion Yahav | י | ي |
Social Leadership | Ilan Yar-Zanber | יר | ي ر |
Tzomet | Moshe Green | זץ | ز ص |
United Arab List | Mansour Abbas | עם | ع م |
United Torah Judaism | Moshe Gafni | ג | ج |
Us | Mosh Huga | נר | ن ر |
Yamina | Naftali Bennett | ב | ب |
Yesh Atid | Yair Lapid | פה | ف ه |
Yisrael Beiteinu | Avigdor Lieberman | ל | ل |
The following parties, which did not have representation in the Knesset prior to the election, expressed interest in participating in the 2021 election, but ultimately chose not to contest it:
This graph shows the polling trends from the 2 March 2020 Israeli legislative election. Scenario polls are not included here.
For parties not crossing the electoral threshold (currently 3.25%) in any given poll, the number of seats is calculated as a percentage of the 120 total seats. Labor-Meretz-Gesher and Labor-Meretz are shown as Labor before the splits; Yesh Atid-Telem is shown as Yesh Atid before the split.
The daily Haaretz endorsed four parties in the 2021 election: Meretz, the Joint List, Labor, and Yesh Atid. [51]
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---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
Likud | 1,066,892 | 24.19 | 30 | –7 | |
Yesh Atid | 614,112 | 13.93 | 17 | +4 | |
Shas | 316,008 | 7.17 | 9 | 0 | |
Blue and White | 292,257 | 6.63 | 8 | –7 | |
Yamina | 273,836 | 6.21 | 7 | +4 | |
Israeli Labor Party | 268,767 | 6.09 | 7 | +4 | |
United Torah Judaism | 248,391 | 5.63 | 7 | 0 | |
Yisrael Beiteinu | 248,370 | 5.63 | 7 | 0 | |
Religious Zionist Party | 225,641 | 5.12 | 6 | +4 | |
Joint List | 212,583 | 4.82 | 6 | –5 | |
New Hope | 209,161 | 4.74 | 6 | New | |
Meretz | 202,218 | 4.59 | 6 | +3 | |
United Arab List | 167,064 | 3.79 | 4 | 0 | |
New Economic Party | 34,883 | 0.79 | 0 | New | |
Rapeh only Health | 17,346 | 0.39 | 0 | New | |
Pirate Party | 1,309 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |
Me and You | 1,291 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | |
Hope for Change | 1,189 | 0.03 | 0 | New | |
Social Bang – Pensioners | 811 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
Mishpat Tzedek | 729 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |
Tzomet | 663 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | |
Am Shalem | 592 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
New Order | 514 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
Kama | 486 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
The Impossible – Possible | 463 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
Jewish Heart | 443 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
Atzmeinu | 441 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
Bible Bloc | 429 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
New World | 429 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
Common Alliance | 408 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
The Israelis | 395 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
Shama | 395 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
Da'am Workers Party | 385 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
Social Leadership | 256 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | |
Ma'an – Together for a New Era | 253 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
Hetz | 226 | 0.01 | 0 | New | |
Us | 220 | 0.00 | 0 | New | |
Human Dignity | 196 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 4,410,052 | 100.00 | 120 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 4,410,052 | 99.41 | |||
Invalid/blank votes | 26,313 | 0.59 | |||
Total votes | 4,436,365 | 100.00 | |||
Registered voters/turnout | 6,578,084 | 67.44 | |||
Source: CEC |
Party | Name | Year elected | Source | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Blue and White | Ruth Wasserman Lande | 2021 | [52] | |
Joint List | Heba Yazbak | 2019 | [53] | |
Yousef Jabareen | 2015 | [53] | ||
Sondos Saleh | 2020 | [54] | ||
Jabar Asakla | 2019 | [54] | ||
Likud | Tali Ploskov | 2020 | [52] | |
Uzi Dayan | 2020 | [52] | ||
Ariel Kallner | 2020 | [52] | ||
Osnat Mark | 2020 | [52] | ||
Amit Halevi | 2020 | [52] | ||
Nissim Vaturi | 2020 | [52] | ||
Shevah Stern | 2020 | [52] | ||
Ayoob Kara | 2020 | [52] | ||
Matti Yogev | 2020 | [52] | ||
New Hope | Zvi Hauser | 2019 | [53] | |
Shas | Yosef Taieb | 2020 | ||
United Arab List | Iman Khatib-Yasin | 2020 | ||
United Torah Judaism | Ya'akov Tessler | 2019 | ||
Eliyahu Baruchi | 2020 | |||
Yesh Atid | Moshe Tur-Paz | 2020 |
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met with the heads of all political parties on 5 April, [55] and charged Benjamin Netanyahu with forming the government the next day. [56] Netanyahu had been given until the end of 4 May to form a government. [57] Netanyahu failed to form a new government by the deadline. [58] The next day, Rivlin entrusted Yair Lapid with the second mandate. [59] On 9 May 2021, it was reported that Lapid and Naftali Bennett had made major headway in the coalition talks. [60] [61] On 10 May, it was reported that plans were made to form a new government consisting of the current opposition, but that the Islamist Ra'am Party, which froze talks with both Lapid and Bennett in the wake of recent warfare in Gaza, still needed to pledge support for the Change bloc for the opposition MKs to secure a majority. [62] [63] In late May, Lapid secured the support from Blue and White, Labor Party, Yisrael Beiteinu, New Hope, and Meretz, with Yamina and Ra'am possibly giving support. [64] On 30 May 2021, Bennett announced in a televised address that Yamina would join a unity government with Lapid, after all but one Yamina MK agreed to back this decision. [65]
On 2 June 2021, following negotiations with Lapid and Bennett, Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas officially signed a coalition agreement with Lapid, and agreed to allow his party to join a non-Netanyahu government. [66] [67] Just an hour before his 2 June mandate was set to expire, Lapid informed outgoing president Reuven Rivlin that he could form a new government. [68] [69] [70] On 11 June 2021, Bennett's Yamina party became the last opposition faction to sign a coalition agreement with Lapid's Yesh Atid party, thus allowing the thirty-sixth government of Israel to be sworn in on 13 June. [71] Bennett became prime minister with Lapid as alternate prime minister, intended to take over as head of government in 2023.
The Religious Zionist Party, known as Tkuma until 2021 and officially known as National Union–Tkuma, was a far-right, ultra-nationalist, Jewish supremacist, and religious Zionist political party in Israel. In all the elections since its founding in 1998, the party had joined other factions and competed as part of a united list. In 2023, the Religious Zionist Party and The Jewish Home agreed to merge to become National Religious Party–Religious Zionism.
The Jewish Home was an Orthodox Jewish, religious Zionist and far-right political party in Israel. It was originally formed by a merger of the National Religious Party, Moledet and Tkuma in November 2008. However, Moledet broke away from the party after its top representative was placed only 17th on the new party's list for the 2009 Knesset elections, and instead ran on a joint list with Hatikva. Tkuma later also left to join the National Union.
Early legislative elections were held in Israel on 22 January 2013 to elect the 120 members of the nineteenth Knesset. Public debate over the Tal Law had nearly led to early elections in 2012, but they were aborted at the last moment after Kadima briefly joined the government. The elections were later called in early October 2012 after failure to agree on the budget for the 2013 fiscal year.
Yesh Atid is a centrist, liberal Zionist political party in Israel. It was founded in 2012 by former TV journalist Yair Lapid, the son of the former Shinui party politician and Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid.
Early elections for the twentieth Knesset were held in Israel on 17 March 2015. Disagreements within the governing coalition, particularly over the budget and a "Jewish state" proposal, led to the dissolution of the government in December 2014. The Labor Party and Hatnuah formed a coalition, called Zionist Union, with the hope of defeating the Likud party, which had led the previous governing coalition along with Yisrael Beiteinu, Yesh Atid, The Jewish Home, and Hatnuah.
Hatnua was a liberal political party in Israel formed by former Israeli Foreign Minister and Vice Prime Minister Tzipi Livni to present an alternative to voters frustrated by the stalemate in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.
Polls may not add up to 120 seats due to rounding or omitted parties that dropped out or did not poll consistently.
Israeli polls do not take the electoral threshold into account in a uniform fashion. Some polls report the number of seats each party would win purely according to the percentages, as though there were no threshold; others eliminate parties that poll below the threshold and distribute the 120 available Knesset seats only among those who pass it. As a result, parties that poll at or near the threshold can show inconsistent results, bouncing between 0 and the minimum 3 or 4 seats.
Early legislative elections were held in Israel on 9 April 2019 to elect the 120 members of the 21st Knesset. Elections had been due in November 2019, but were brought forward following a dispute between members of the current government over a bill on national service for the ultra-Orthodox population, as well as impending corruption charges against incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In the run-up to the April 2019 Israeli legislative election, which was held on 9 April, various organisations carried out opinion polling to gauge voting intentions in Israel. Results of such polls are displayed in this article, ranging from the previous legislative election, held on 17 March 2015, to the 2019 election.
Snap legislative elections were held in Israel on 17 September 2019 to elect the 120 members of the 22nd Knesset. Following the previous elections in April, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition. On 30 May, the Knesset voted to dissolve itself and trigger new elections, in order to prevent Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz from being appointed Prime Minister-designate. This election marked the first time the Knesset voted to dissolve itself before a government had been formed.
The New Right is a right-wing political party in Israel, established in December 2018 by Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett. The New Right aims to be a right-wing party open to both religious and secular people. The party did not win any seats in the April 2019 election, though it won three seats in the subsequent election of September 2019, retained these in the March 2020 election and increased to seven seats in the 2021 Israeli legislative election. It is currently the sole member of the Yamina alliance.
Blue and White was a centrist and liberal Zionist political alliance in Israel. It was established by the Israel Resilience Party, Yesh Atid and Telem to run in the April 2019 Knesset election, in hopes of defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Blue and White defines itself as a pluralistic alliance representing all citizens on the political and religious spectrums. The phrase "blue and white" refers to the colors of the Israeli flag, and is colloquially used to describe something as being typically Israeli.
Legislative elections were held in Israel on 2 March 2020 to elect members of the twenty-third Knesset. The result was initially a stalemate, which was resolved when Likud and Blue & White reached a coalition agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, the premiership would rotate between Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, with Gantz given the new position of Alternate Prime Minister until November 2021. These elections followed the continued political deadlock after the April and September 2019 Knesset elections.
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Yamina or Yemina was an Israeli political alliance of right-wing parties that originally included the New Right and the Union of Right-Wing Parties. The current incarnation of the alliance includes only the New Right, as The Jewish Home left the alliance on 14 July 2020, and the Religious Zionist Party left on 20 January 2021.
In the run up to the 2021 Israeli legislative election, various organisations carry out opinion polling to gauge voting intention in Israel during the term of the 23rd Knesset. This article lists the results of such polls.
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Legislative elections were held in Israel on 1 November 2022 to elect the 120 members of the 25th Knesset. The results saw the right-wing national camp of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu win a parliamentary majority, amid losses for left-wing and Arab parties, as well as gains by the far-right.
The thirty-sixth government of Israel, or the Bennett–Lapid government, was the cabinet of Israel that was formed on 13 June 2021 after the 2021 Israeli legislative election. On 2 June 2021, a coalition agreement was signed between Yesh Atid, Blue and White, Yamina, the Labor Party, Yisrael Beiteinu, New Hope, Meretz, and the United Arab List. The cabinet was succeeded by the thirty-seventh government of Israel, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, on 29 December 2022.