1961 Israeli legislative election

1961 Israeli legislative election
Turnout	81.57% ( 0.03 pp)
David Ben-Gurion; Mapai	David Ben-Gurion; Mapai

Elections for the fifth Knesset were held in Israel on 15 August 1961. Voter turnout was 81.6%.^[1]

Parliament factions

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 4th Knesset.

Name		Ideology	Symbol	Leader	1959 result		Seats at 1964 dissolution
Name		Ideology	Symbol	Leader	Votes (%)	Seats	Seats at 1964 dissolution
	Mapai	Social democracy Labor Zionism	א‎	David Ben-Gurion	38.2%	47 / 120	47 / 120
	Herut	Revisionist Zionism	ח‎	Menachem Begin	13.5%	17 / 120	17 / 120
	Liberal Party	Liberalism	ל‎	Pinchas Rosen Peretz Bernstein	-	0 / 120	14 / 120
	National Religious Party	Religious Zionism	ב‎	Haim-Moshe Shapira	9.9%	12 / 120	12 / 120
	Mapam	Labor Zionism Socialism	מ‎	Meir Ya'ari	7.2%	9 / 120	9 / 120
	General Zionists	Liberalism	צ‎	Yosef Sapir	6.2%	8 / 120	0 / 120
	Ahdut HaAvoda	Labor Zionism	תו‎	Yisrael Galili	6.0%	7 / 120	7 / 120
	Agudat Yisrael	Religious conservatism	ג‎	Yitzhak-Meir Levin	4.7%^[a]	3 / 120	3 / 120
	Poalei Agudat Yisrael	Religious conservatism	ד‎	Kalman Kahana	4.7%^[a]	3 / 120	3 / 120
	Progressive Party	Liberalism Progressivism	פ‎	Pinchas Rosen	4.6%	6 / 120	0 / 120
	Maki	Communism	ק‎	Shmuel Mikunis	2.8%	3 / 120	3 / 120
	Progress and Development	Arab satellite list	רא‎	Ahmed A-Dahar	1.3%	2 / 120	2 / 120
	Cooperation and Brotherhood	Arab satellite list	יא‎	Labib Hussein Abu Rokan	1.1%	2 / 120	2 / 120
	Agriculture and Development	Arab satellite list	ע‎	Mahmud Al-Nashaf	1.1%	1 / 120	1 / 120

Results



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Mapai	349,330	34.69	42	−5
	Herut	138,599	13.76	17	0
	Liberal Party	137,255	13.63	17	+3
	National Religious Party	98,786	9.81	12	0
	Mapam	75,654	7.51	9	0
	Ahdut HaAvoda	66,170	6.57	8	+1
	Maki	42,111	4.18	5	+2
	Agudat Yisrael	37,178	3.69	4	0
	Poalei Agudat Yisrael	19,428	1.93	2	0
	Cooperation and Brotherhood	19,342	1.92	2	0
	Progress and Development	16,034	1.59	2	0
	Progress and Work	3,561	0.35	0	0
	Religious Sephardim List	3,181	0.32	0	New
	Supporters of Democracy	335	0.03	0	New
Total		1,006,964	100.00	120	0

Valid votes		1,006,964	97.10
Invalid/blank votes		30,066	2.90
Total votes		1,037,030	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,271,285	81.57
Source: IDI, Nohlen et al.

Aftermath

During the Knesset term, eight MKs broke away from Mapai to establish Rafi and two MKs left Maki to establish Rakah. Herut and the Liberal Party merged to form Gahal. Seven Liberal Party members unhappy with the decision (largely former Progressive Party members) broke away to form the Independent Liberals.

Tenth government

The fifth Knesset started with David Ben-Gurion's Mapai party forming the tenth government on 2 November 1961. His coalition included the National Religious Party, Ahdut HaAvoda, Agudat Israel Workers, Cooperation and Brotherhood and Progress and Development, and had 13 ministers. Kadish Luz of Mapai was appointed Knesset Speaker. The government collapsed when Ben-Gurion resigned on 16 June 1963 citing personal reasons, but in reality was annoyed at a perceived lack of support from his colleagues. He later broke away from Mapai with several colleagues to form Rafi.

Eleventh government

Levi Eshkol took over Mapai and formed the eleventh government on 26 June 1963 with the same coalition partners as previously, but one more minister. The government resigned on 10 December 1964 when Ben-Gurion demanded that members of the Supreme Court investigate the Lavon Affair.

Twelfth government

Eshkol formed the twelfth government a week later on 22 December 1964 with the same coalition partners and ministers as previously.

The fifth Knesset was notable for the coalescing of the two major right-wing parties (Herut and the Liberal Party) to form an electoral block (Gahal) capable of threatening Mapai's hegemony in Israeli politics. Gahal, which by then had become Likud, finally overtook Mapai (which had merged into the Alignment) in the 1977 elections.

Notes

^ Agudat Yisrael and PAI ran as a joint list called Religious Torah Front.

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 Fifth Knesset Knesset website
Election results Knesset website
The Fifth Knesset Knesset website

[A-2] Agudat Yisrael and PAI ran as a joint list called Religious Torah Front.

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

[1]

[a]