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Elections for the eleventh Knesset were held in Israel on 23 July 1984. Voter turnout was 78.8%. [1] The results saw the Alignment return to being the largest party in the Knesset, a status it had lost in 1977. However, the party could not form a government with any of the smaller parties, resulting in a national unity government with Likud, with both party leaders, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir, holding the post of Prime Minister for two years each.
Elections in Israel are based on nationwide proportional representation. The electoral threshold is currently set at 3.25%, with the number of seats a party receives in the Knesset being proportional to the number of votes it receives. The Knesset is elected for a four-year term, although most governments have not served a full term and early elections are a frequent occurrence. Israel has a multi-party system based on coalition governments as no party has ever won a majority of seats in a national election, although the Alignment briefly held a majority following its formation by an alliance of several different parties prior to the 1969 elections. The legal voting age for Israeli citizens is 18. Elections are overseen by the Central Elections Committee and are held according to the Knesset Elections Law.
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel's economic and technological center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, although the state's sovereignty over Jerusalem has only partial recognition.
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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.(February 2012) |
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/− |
---|---|---|---|---|
Alignment 1 2 | 724,074 | 34.9 | 44 | −3 |
Likud 4 | 661,302 | 31.9 | 41 | −7 |
Tehiya–Tzomet 5 | 83,037 | 4.0 | 5 | +2 |
National Religious Party 6 | 73,530 | 3.5 | 4 | −2 |
Hadash–Black Panthers 8 | 69,815 | 3.4 | 4 | 0 |
Shas 7 | 63,605 | 3.1 | 4 | New |
Shinui 1 3 | 54,747 | 2.7 | 3 | +1 |
Ratz 1 3 | 49,698 | 2.4 | 3 | +2 |
Yahad 2 | 46,302 | 2.2 | 3 | New |
Progressive List for Peace | 38,012 | 1.8 | 2 | New |
Agudat Yisrael | 36,079 | 1.7 | 2 | −2 |
Morasha 6 | 33,287 | 1.6 | 2 | New |
Tami 4 | 31,103 | 1.5 | 1 | −2 |
Kach | 25,907 | 1.2 | 1 | +1 |
Ometz 4 | 23,845 | 1.2 | 1 | New |
Aryeh Eliav | 15,348 | 0.7 | 0 | New |
Handicapped Organisation | 12,329 | 0.6 | 0 | New |
Movement for the Renewal of Social Zionism | 5,876 | 0.3 | 0 | New |
Aliyah and Youth Movement | 5,794 | 0.3 | 0 | New |
Shiluv | 5,499 | 0.3 | 0 | New |
Independence | 4,887 | 0.2 | 0 | New |
National Organisation for the Defence of the Tenant | 3,195 | 0.2 | 0 | New |
Development and Peace | 2,430 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
Has Mas | 1,472 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
Movement for the Homeland | 1,415 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
Amkha | 733 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
Invalid/blank votes | 18,081 | – | – | – |
Total | 2,091,402 | 100 | 120 | 0 |
Source: Nohlen et al. |
1 Five MKs broke away from the Alignment to establish Mapam and one to establish the Arab Democratic Party, whilst one MK defected to Ratz and one to Shinui.
Mapam was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party.
The Arab Democratic Party commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acroynym Mada is a political party in Israel. Between the mid-1990s and 2012 it was a faction within the United Arab List.
2 Yahad merged into the Alignment.
3 Mordechai Virshubski defected from Shinui to Ratz.
Mordechai Virshuvski was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for several parties between 1977 and 1992.
4 Ometz and Tami merged into Likud.
5 One MK broke away from Tehiya to establish Tzomet.
Tzomet is a small secular, right-wing political party in Israel.
6 Haim Drukman defected from Morasha to the National Religious Party.
Haim Meir Drukman , born 15 November 1932) is an Israeli Orthodox Rabbi and former politician. He serves as Rosh Yeshiva of Ohr Etzion Yeshiva, and head of the Center for Bnei Akiva Yeshivot.
7 Shimon Ben-Shlomo broke away from Shas.
8 Muhammed Wattad defected from Mapam to Hadash.
Due to the stalemate produced by the elections, it was decided to form a national unity government, with the Alignment and Likud holding the leadership for two years each. The Alignment's Shimon Peres formed the twenty-first government on 13 September 1984, and as well as Likud, the coalition included the National Religious Party, Agudat Israel, Shas, Morasha, Shinui and Ometz. Aside from national unity governments created at a time of war (notably the government formed during the Six-Day War in the term of the sixth Knesset, which had 111 MKs), it was the largest ever government in Israeli political history, with 97 MKs.
A national unity government, government of national unity, or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other national emergency.
Shimon Peres was an Israeli politician who served as the ninth President of Israel (2007–2014), the Prime Minister of Israel (twice), and the Interim Prime Minister, in the 1970s to the 1990s. He was a member of twelve cabinets and represented five political parties in a political career spanning 70 years. Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, was in office continuously until he was elected President in 2007. At the time of his retirement in 2014, he was the world's oldest head of state and was considered the last link to Israel's founding generation.
The twenty-first government of Israel was formed by Shimon Peres of the Alignment on 13 September 1984, following the July elections. With both the Alignment and Likud winning over 40 seats each, neither side could form a stand-alone coalition, resulting in a national unity government, together with the National Religious Party, Agudat Yisrael, Shas, Morasha, Shinui and Ometz, which together held 97 of the 120 seats in the Knesset. However, in protest at the alliance with Likud, Mapam broke away from the Alignment, as did Yossi Sarid, who joined Ratz.
In accordance with the rotation agreement, Peres resigned in 1986 and Likud's Yitzhak Shamir formed the twenty-second government on 20 October 1986. Shinui left the coalition on 26 May 1987.
The eleventh Knesset also contained two controversial parties, Kach and the Progressive List for Peace (PLFP). Kach was a far-right party that advocated the expulsion of most Israeli Arabs, and although it had run in previous elections, it had not passed the electoral threshold. Ultimately the party was banned after a law was passed barring parties that incited racism. The attempts made to stop Kach from competing in the next elections also affected the PLFP, as the addition of section 7a to the Basic Law dealing with the Knesset ("Prevention of Participation of Candidates List") included the banning of parties that denied Israel's existence as a Jewish state:
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The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of government and chief executive of Israel.
Shinui was a Zionist, secular, and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third-largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977, the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for Change, but the alliance split in 1978, and Shinui was reduced to two seats at the next elections. In 2003, the party won 15 seats alone, but lost them all three years later after most of its MKs left to form new parties. The party was a member of Liberal International until 2009.
Tehiya, originally known as Banai, then Tehiya-Bnai, was an ultranationalist political party in Israel. The party existed from 1979 until 1992. In the eyes of many, Tehiya was identified with Geula Cohen, who founded the party and headed it throughout its existence.
Yossi Sarid was an Israeli politician and news commentator. He served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment, Ratz and Meretz between 1974 and 2006. A former Minister of Education and Minister of the Environment, he led Meretz between 1996 and 2003 and served as Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. Known for his determined moral stance and his willingness to pay the political price for that determination, Sarid was often referred to as Israel's moral compass.
The Democratic Movement for Change, commonly known by its Hebrew acronym Dash was a short-lived and initially highly successful centrist political party in Israel. Formed in 1976 by numerous well-known non-politicians, following a spectacular breakup, it had ceased to exist within less than two years.
Legislative elections were held in Israel on 17 May 1977 to elect the ninth Knesset. For the first time in Israeli political history, the right-wing, led by Likud, won a plurality of seats, ending almost 30 years of rule by the left-wing Alignment and its predecessor, Mapai. The dramatic shift in Israeli politics caused by the outcome led to it becoming known as "the revolution", a phrase coined by TV anchor Haim Yavin when he announced the election results live on television with the words "Ladies and gentlemen—a revolution!". The election saw the beginning of a period lasting almost two decades where the left- and right-wing blocs held roughly equal numbers of seats in the Knesset.
The Alignment is the name of two political alliances in Israel. Each of these Alignment parties later merged into what is now the Israeli Labor Party.
Ometz, originally Rafi – National List, then the National List was a small right-wing political party in Israel, which existed briefly in 1981, and then from 1983 until 1987. Though linked to it, it is considered a separate entity to the National List of the early 1970s.
Knesset elections were held in Israel on 30 June 1981. The ruling Likud won one more seat than the opposition Alignment, a surprise result as opinion polls and political momentum initially suggested that the Alignment would win roughly half of the votes while the Likud would only get twenty percent. Voter turnout was 78.5%, with Likud receiving around ten thousand more than the Alignment. This elections highlighted the polarization in the country.
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Morasha, later known as Morasha-Poalei Agudat Yisrael, was a small, short-lived religious political party in Israel during the 1980s.
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