Israeli legislative election, 1959

Last updated April 10, 2019

Elections for the fourth Knesset were held in Israel on 3 November 1959. Voter turnout was 81.5%.^[1]

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.

Background

Election campaign

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/−
Mapai	370,585	38.2	47	+7
Herut	130,515	13.5	17	+2
National Religious Party	95,581	9.9	12	+1
Mapam	69,468	7.2	9	0
General Zionists ¹	59,700	6.2	8	−5
Ahdut HaAvoda	58,043	6.0	7	−3
Religious Torah Front ²	45,569	4.7	6	0
Progressive Party ¹	44,889	4.6	6	+1
Maki	27,374	2.8	3	−3
Progress and Development	12,347	1.3	2	New
Cooperation and Brotherhood	11,104	1.1	2	New
Agriculture and Development	10,902	1.1	1	0

Union of North African Immigrants	8,199	0.8	0	New
Progress and Work	4,651	0.5	0	−2
Independent Faction for Israeli Arabs	3,818	0.4	0	New
Israeli Arab Labour Party	3,369	0.3	0	New
Sephardi National Party	3,133	0.3	0	New
National Union	2,456	0.2	0	0
Holocaust Handicapped and Injured Faction	1,765	0.2	0	New
Yemenite Faction	1,711	0.2	0	0
Independents	1,611	0.2	0	New
Socialist Union (Bund)	1,322	0.1	0	New
New Immigrants Front	631	0.1	0	0
Third Power	594	0.1	0	New
Invalid/blank votes	24,967	–	–	–
Total	994,306	100	120	0
Source: Nohlen et al.

¹ The General Zionists and the Progressive Party merged to form the Liberal Party.

The Israeli Liberal Party was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Likud. The party was created by a merger between the centrist Progressive Party and the General Zionists, forming a right-leaning, middle-class-based party. The Progressives soon seceded to form the Independent Liberals in 1964.

² The Religious Torah Front split into its two constituent parts, Agudat Yisrael (four seats) and Poalei Agudat Yisrael (two seats).

The Fourth Knesset

The fourth Knesset started with David Ben-Gurion's Mapai party forming the 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.

David Ben-Gurion was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first Prime Minister of Israel.

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.

Kadish Luz was an Israeli politician who served as Minister of Agriculture between 1955 and 1959 and Speaker of the Knesset from 1959 and 1969.

The government collapsed when Ben-Gurion resigned on 31 January 1961, over a motion of no-confidence brought by Herut and the General Zionists concerning the Lavon Affair. After Ben-Gurion was unable to form a new government new elections were called. At only one year and nine months, the fourth Knesset is the shortest Knesset term to date.

The Lavon affair refers to a failed Israeli covert operation, codenamed Operation Susannah, conducted in Egypt in the summer of 1954. As part of the false flag operation, a group of Egyptian Jews were recruited by Israeli military intelligence to plant bombs inside Egyptian-, American-, and British-owned civilian targets: cinemas, libraries and American educational centers. The bombs were timed to detonate several hours after closing time. The attacks were to be blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian Communists, "unspecified malcontents" or "local nationalists" with the aim of creating a climate of sufficient violence and instability to induce the British government to retain its occupying troops in Egypt's Suez Canal zone. The operation caused no casualties among the population, but cost the lives of four operatives: two cell members who committed suicide after being captured; and two operatives who were tried, convicted, and executed by the Egyptian authorities.

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References

↑ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p124 ISBN 0-19-924958-X

External links

Historical overview of the Fourth Knesset Knesset website
Elections to the Fourth Knesset Knesset website
Factional and Government Make-Up of the Fourth Knesset Knesset website

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[1] Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p124 ISBN 0-19-924958-X

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