Israeli legislative election, 1959

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Elections for the fourth Knesset were held in Israel on 3 November, 1959. Voter turnout was 79.5%.

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[edit] Results

Party Votes % of vote Seats at start of session Seats at end of session
Mapai 370,585 38.2% 47 47
Herut 130,515 13.5% 17 17
National Religious Party 95,581 9.9% 12 12
Mapam 69,468 7.2% 9 9
General Zionists ¹ 59,700 6.2% 8 0
Labour Unity 58,043 6.0% 7 7
Religious Torah Front ² 45,569 4.7% 6 6
Progressive Party ¹ 44,889 4.6% 6 0
Maki 27,374 2.8% 3 3
Progress and Development 12,347 1.3% 2 2
Cooperation and Brotherhood 11,104 1.1% 2 2
Agriculture and Development 10,902 1.1% 1 1
Non-qualifiers 33,260 3.4% - -
Total 969,337 100% 120 120
Liberal Party ¹ - - 0 14
Agudat Israel ² - - 0 4
Agudat Israel Workers ² - - 0 2

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

² The Religious Torah Front split into its two constituent parts, Agudat Israel and Agudat Israel Workers

[edit] Non-qualifiers

The following parties ran for election, but did not pass the electoral threshold of 1% (9,693 votes):

  • Independents
  • Independent Faction for Israeli Arabs
  • Israeli Arab Labour Party
  • Union of North African Immigrants (see Wadi Salib events)
  • National Union
  • New Immigrant Front
  • Progress and Work
  • Sephardim and Oriental Communities
  • Socialist Union
  • Sepharadi National Party
  • The Holocaust Handicapped and Injured Faction
  • Third Power
  • Yemenite Faction

[edit] 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, Labour Unity, 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.

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.

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