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1965 Israeli legislative election

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Elections for the 6th Knesset
Israel
← 1961 2 November 1965 1969 →
Turnout85.9%
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
Labor Alignment Levi Eshkol 36.7% 45 −5
Gahal Menachem Begin 21.3% 26 −8
Mafdal Haim-Moshe Shapira 8.9% 11 −1
Rafi David Ben-Gurion 7.9% 10 New
Mapam Meir Ya'ari 6.6% 8 −1
Independent Liberals Moshe Kol 3.8% 5 New
Agudat Yisrael Yitzhak-Meir Levin 3.3% 4 0
style="width:0px !important; padding:3px !important; background-color:Template:Maki (political party)/meta/color;"| Rakah Meir Vilner 2.3% 3 New
PAI Kalman Kahana 1.9% 2 0
Progress and Development Seif el-Din el-Zoubi 1.8% 2 0
Cooperation and Brotherhood Diyab Obeid 1.3% 2 0
Meri Uri Avnery 1.2% 1 New
Maki Shmuel Mikunis 1.1% 1 −4
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Levi Eshkol
Mapai		 Levi Eshkol
Alignment

Elections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 2 November 1965.[1][2] Voter turnout was 85.9%.[3]

Background

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.

Parliament factions

For a more comprehensive list, see List of political parties in Israel.

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 6th Knesset.

Name Ideology Symbol Leader 1961 result Seats at 1964
dissolution
Votes (%) Seats
style="background:Template:Mapai/meta/color;"| Mapai Social Democracy
Labor Zionism 		Template:Hebrew Levi Eshkol 34.7%
42 / 120
34 / 120
style="background:Template:Herut/meta/color;"| Herut National conservatism
Revisionist Zionism 		Template:Hebrew Menachem Begin 13.8%
17 / 120
17 / 120
style="background:Template:Liberal Party (Israel)/meta/color;"| Libralit Liberalism Template:Hebrew Elimelekh Rimalt 13.6%
17 / 120
10 / 120
style="background:Template:National Religious Party/meta/color;"| Mafdal Religious Zionism Template:Hebrew Haim-Moshe Shapira 9.8%
12 / 120
12 / 120
style="background:Template:Mapam/meta/color;"| Mapam Labor Zionism
Socialism 		Template:Hebrew Meir Ya'ari 7.8%
9 / 120
9 / 120
style="background:Template:Ahdut HaAvoda/meta/color;"| Ahdut HaAvoda Labor Zionism Template:Hebrew Yisrael Galili 6.6%
8 / 120
8 / 120
style="background:Template:Rafi (political party)/meta/color;"| Rafi Social democracy Template:Hebrew David Ben-Gurion -
0 / 120
8 / 120
style="background:Template:Independent Liberals (Israel)/meta/color;"| Independent Liberals Liberalism Template:Hebrew Moshe Kol -
0 / 120
7 / 120
style="background:Template:Maki (historical political party)/meta/color;"| Maki Communism Template:Hebrew Shmuel Mikunis 4.2%
5 / 120
5 / 120
style="background:Template:Agudat Yisrael/meta/color;"| Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism Template:Hebrew Yitzhak-Meir Levin 3.7%
4 / 120
4 / 120
style="background:Template:Poalei Agudat Yisrael/meta/color;"| Poalei Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism Template:Hebrew Kalman Kahana 1.9%
2 / 120
2 / 120
Cooperation and Brotherhood Arab satellite list Template:Hebrew Diyab Obeid 1.9%
2 / 120
2 / 120
Progress and Development Arab satellite list Template:Hebrew Ahmed A-Dahar 1.6%
2 / 120
2 / 120

Results

Party Votes % Seats +/−
Alignment ¹ 443,379 36.7 45 −5
Gahal ² 256,957 21.3 26 −8
National Religious Party 107,966 8.9 11 −1
Rafi ¹ 95,328 7.9 10 New
Mapam ¹ 79,985 6.6 8 −1
Independent Liberals ¹ 45,299 3.8 5 New
Agudat Yisrael 39,795 3.3 4 0
Rakah 27,413 2.3 3 New
Progress and Development ³ 23,430 1.9 2 0
Poalei Agudat Yisrael 22,066 1.8 2 0
Cooperation and Brotherhood ³ 16,464 1.3 2 0
HaOlam HaZeh – Koah Hadash 14,124 1.2 1 New
Maki 13,617 1.1 1 −4
Movement for Brotherhood 11,244 0.9 0 New
Peace List 5,536 0.5 0 New
Nes 2,135 0.2 0 New
Young Israel 1,990 0.2 0 New
Invalid/blank votes 37,978 – – –
Total 1,244,706 100 120 0
Source: Nohlen et al.

¹ 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. In addition, Yizhar Harari left the Independent Liberals to join the Alignment.

² Four MKs broke away from Gahal to establish the Free Centre

³ Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood merged 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.

The Sixth Knesset

See also: List of members of the sixth Knesset

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.

The sixth Knesset is notable for being the only one in which a party has ever held a majority of the seats by itself. By the end of the session, the merger of Mapam and Rafi into the Alignment left it with 63 seats (53% of the total). Although the party came close to equalling the feat in the 1969 elections, when it won 56 seats (which is still the best electoral performance on record), no party has managed it since.

References

  1. ^ Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, ed. A History of the Jewish People (Harvard University Press, 1976) p1092
  2. ^ "Labor Leads Israeli Election", Montreal Gazette, 3 November 1965, p1
  3. ^ 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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