Israeli legislative election, 1981

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Elections for the 10th Knesset
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←  1977 30 June 1981 1984  →

Party Leader% Seats±
Likud Menachem Begin 37.1% 48 +5
Alignment Shimon Peres 36.6% 47 +15
Mafdal Yosef Burg 4.9% 6 -6
Agudat Yisrael Avraham Yosef Shapira 3.7% 4 0
Hadash Meir Vilner 3.4% 4 -1
Tehiya Yuval Ne'eman 2.3% 3 New
Tami Aharon Abuhatzira 2.3% 3 New
Telem Moshe Dayan 1.6% 2 New
Shinui Amnon Rubinstein 1.5% 2
Ratz Shulamit Aloni 1.4% 1 0
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister beforePrime Minister after
Menachem Begin
Likud 		Menachem Begin
Likud

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. [1] Voter turnout was 78.5%, [2] with Likud receiving around ten thousand more than the Alignment. [2] This elections highlighted the polarization in the country. [3]

Israel country in the Middle East

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.

Likud, officially the Likud-National Liberal Movement, is a centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. A secular party, it was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing parties. Likud's landslide victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had lost power. In addition, it was the first time in Israel that a right-wing party won the plurality of the votes. However, after ruling the country for most of the 1980s, the party lost the Knesset election in 1992. Nevertheless, Likud's candidate Benjamin Netanyahu did win the vote for Prime Minister in 1996 and was given the task of forming a government after the 1996 elections. Netanyahu's government fell apart after a vote of no confidence, which led to elections being called in 1999 and Likud losing power to the One Israel coalition led by Ehud Barak.

Alignment (Israel) alliance of major left-wing parties in Israel

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.

Contents

Background

Prior to the elections, Menachem Begin's government faced instability due to internal conflict amongst coalition partners and international pressures, as well as issues with corruption, and failure to pass legislation. [4] Discontent with the government was growing, and 40% of people agreed that "the major problems facing the state and the entire political system must be changed and a strong government of leaders and independent of parties should take control". [5] Due to the dissatisfaction with the government, it was expected that Likud would lose the elections.

Menachem Begin Israeli politician and Prime Minister

Menachem Begin was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Israel, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944, against the British mandatory government, which was opposed by the Jewish Agency. As head of the Irgun, he targeted the British in Palestine. Later, the Irgun fought the Arabs during the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine.

Electoral system

The 120 seats in the Knesset were elected by closed list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. This led to numerous parties winning seats and multi-party government coalitions.

Closed list describes the variant of party-list proportional representation where voters can (effectively) only vote for political parties as a whole and thus have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters have at least some influence then it is called an open list.

Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.

The D'Hondt method or the Jefferson method is a highest averages method for allocating seats, and is thus a type of party-list proportional representation. The method described is named in the United States after Thomas Jefferson, who introduced the method for proportional allocation of seats in the United States House of Representatives in 1791, and in Europe after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, who described it in 1878 for proportional allocation of parliamentary seats to the parties. There are two forms: closed list and an open list.

Campaign

Since 1965 parties had begun abandoning attempts to frame moral issues in favor of spreading wider nets to catch a bigger range of voters. Rather than focusing on controversial issues that divided them, parties took to forming clusters that resorted to "emotive catchwords" and the lowest common denominator. [4] The party clusters had set aside fundamental ideals in order to work together, which meant that infighting amongst the coalitions was inevitable. [4]

In the social sciences, framing comprises a set of concepts and theoretical perspectives on how individuals, groups, and societies, organize, perceive, and communicate about reality.

Menachem Begin, Likud's most popular candidate, served as a strong factor for the party's resurgence. 40.7% of the adult Jewish persons responded in favor of seeing Begin as prime minister, with 49% saying Begin would better be able to deal with the country’s problems. [6] The Alignment, whose announcement of potential major ministerial appointments failed to include Yitzhak Rabin, left the impression of a power-hungry group of politicians, with animosity between party leaders Shimon Peres and Rabin. [7]

Yitzhak Rabin Israeli politician, statesman and general

Yitzhak Rabin was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995.

Shimon Peres Israeli politician, 8th prime minister and 9th president of Israel

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.

Public perception of the parties became instrumental in the elections; throughout the campaign the Alignment was seen and painted as the establishment party, considered by 48% of Israeli citizens surveyed to be more old-fashioned, despite its opposition to the government for the four years prior. The Alignment was also seen as self-interested by rather than interested in the good of the people, as well as corrupt. Likud, meanwhile, was seen as slightly stronger (50% as compared with the Alignment's 44%), more honest (57%), and more concerned with the fate of the citizens than that of the party (45%). Likud was able to benefit from having only been created 8 years prior, giving it an image of newness and innocence. [7]

Public perception of the parties [8]
CharacteristicIdealAlignmentLikud
Strong/weak93/9244/3350/33
Right/left55/1328/4077/7
Old-fashioned/progressive15/6148/2642/31
Middle class/working class28/3227/4255/14
Young/old52/1017/5128/35
Sephardi/Ashkenazi11/116/4718/25
Worries about itself/the citizens3/8943/3731/45
Inexperienced/experienced4/864/7945/38
Honest/corrupt35/3957/18
Cannot/can be believed36/4232/48

The 1981 elections also saw a rise in the use of ethnic ideas within the political discourse. [9] While Likud and the Alignment were both led by Ashkenazi politicians, the Alignment was considered the party of the Ashkenazi Jews, with the Sephardic vote lost to Likud. The likelihood of Sephardim voting for Likud and Ashkenazim voting for the Alignment was more pronounced than ever before. [10] However, Likud enjoyed the advantage of still being able to appeal to a significant amount of Ashkenazi voters, while also maintaining their Sephardi popularity; in contrast, the Alignment was seen as even less Sephardi than in previous years. [10]

Conduct

Police noted before election day that "there hasn’t been an election campaign in Israel as violent as the present one". [11] A reason for the violence may have been that this was the first elections in which the public believed both sides had a chance of winning, causing unrest and agitation. [12]

Results

Scholars attribute the Likud's comeback, from its lowest point six months prior to the 1981 legislative election, to five main factors: incumbency, candidates, images, campaigns, violence, and ethnicity. [7] Likud's role as the ruling party enabled the party to use its incumbency advantage to increase popularity with policy implementation. The party implemented tax programs that lowered prices for consumers, subsidized oil products at a higher rate than ever before, and used foreign policy that made the Alignment seem unpatriotic if they argued against the moves. [7]

PartyVotes%Seats+/−
Likud 718,94137.148+3
Alignment 708,53636.647+15
National Religious Party 95,2324.96−6
Agudat Yisrael 72,3123.740
Hadash 64,9183.44−1
Tehiya 44,7002.33New
Tami 44,4662.33New
Telem 30,6001.62New
Shinui 29,8371.52New
Ratz 27,9211.410
Poalei Agudat Yisrael 17,0900.90−1
Independent Liberals 11,7640.60−1
United Arab List 11,5900.60−1
Development and Peace 10,8230.60−1
Left Camp of Israel 8,6910.40−2
Arab Brotherhood List 8,3040.40New
List for Aliyah6,9920.40New
Kach 5,1280.300
Independence4,7100.20New
One Israel 3,7260.20New
Arab Citizens' List2,5960.10New
Pensioners' List2,4040.10New
Unity Party 1,2930.10New
Ya'ad 1,2280.10New
Otzma8390.00New
Tent Movement5450.00New
Abolish Income Tax5030.00New
Amkha 4600.00New
Youth Movement4120.00New
Council to Rescue the Homeland4050.00New
Initiative - Independents Movement4000.00New
Invalid/blank votes17,243–––
Total1,937,3661001200
Source: Nohlen et al.

Aftermath

Menachim Begin (of the Likud) became Prime Minister and in August 1981 included the National Religious Party, Agudat Yisrael, the Movement for the Heritage of Israel (Tami) and Tehiya in his coalition to form the nineteenth government. [2] After Begin resigned due to health reasons, Yitzhak Shamir formed the twentieth government in October 1983, with the same coalition parties. [2]

During the Knesset term, two MKs defected from Likud to the Alignment. Haim Drukman left the National Religious Party and sat as an independent MK, whilst two other MKs left the National Religious Party and formed Gesher – Zionist Religious Centre before returning two weeks later. Telem split into Ometz and the Movement for the Renewal of Social Zionism, whilst Ratz joined the Alignment but then broke away again.

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References

  1. ↑ Silver, Eric (1981-06-30). "Labour leads on eve of Israeli poll". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Factional and Government Make-Up of the Tenth Knesset".
  3. ↑ Arian, Asher (1983). The Elections in Israel, 1981. Israel: Ramot Publishing Co.
  4. 1 2 3 Mendilow, Jonathan (1983). "Party Clustering in Multi-Party Systems: The Example of Israel (1965-1981)". American Journal of Political Science XXVII: 64–85.
  5. ↑ Hasin, E. (1981). Survey conducted by M. Zemach. January 1981, quoted in "The Israeli Democracy: The Beginning of the End?" Monition 30:73-75.
  6. ↑ Survey by Dahaf Research Institute, June 1981, N=1237
  7. 1 2 3 4 Arian, Asher (1983). The Elections in Israel, 1981. Ramot Publishing Co. pp. 1–5.
  8. ↑ Arian, Asher (April 1981). "Israeli Election Study, 1981". Israel Institute of Applied Social Research.
  9. ↑ Hanna Herzog, 'The Ethnic Lists to the Delegates' Assembly and the Knesset (1920 1977) Ethnic Political Identity?' Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Tel-Aviv University, 1981.
  10. 1 2 Shamir, Michal; Arian, Asher. "The ethnic vote in Israel's 1981 elections". Electoral Studies. 1 (3): 315–331. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(82)90221-9.
  11. ↑ Salpeter, Eliahu. " A Scary Face in the Mirror." Haaretz, 19 June 1981, p.14.
  12. ↑ Lehman-Wilzig, Sam (1983). "Thunder Before The Storm: Pre-Election Agitation And Post-Election Turmoil". The Elections in Israel, 1983: 207.
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