Israel legislative election, 1999
Encyclopedia
The Elections
for the 15th Knesset were held on 17 May 1999 alongside simultaneous elections for Prime Minister
. Voter turnout was 78.7%.
had passed the Knesset, it had alienated both the left (who claimed the peace process was moving too slowly) and the right, who were unhappy with territorial concessions. The Likud
-Gesher-Tzomet
alliance had fallen apart, with more members leaving Likud to set up Herut – The National Movement and the Centre Party
.
Netanyahu's government finally gave up the ghost due to difficulties in passing the state budget and in January 1999 passed a bill calling for early elections.
Before the elections, Ehud Barak
's Labour Party
formed an alliance with Gesher and Meimad
called One Israel
in the hope that a united front on the centre-left would give them enough seats to form a more stable coalition.
Note that Yisrael Beiteinu gained a seat after the vote-sharing process was completed. In addition, two parties, Manhigut Yehudit
and Voice of the Environment, initially signed up to participate in the election, but withdrew their candidacy before election day.
1 One Israel split into Labor-Meimad
(25 seats) and Gesher (2 seats).
2 Five members left the Centre Party. Three established the New Way
and two formed Lev
, which immediately merged into Likud. Later, two of the three that set up New Way resigned from the Knesset and were replaced by Centre Party members, whilst the remaining New Way MK joined Labor-Meimad.
3 Two MKs left Yisrael BaAliyah to establish the Democratic Choice
.
4 Three MKs left the United Arab List; two established the Arab National Party
and one formed National Unity - National Progressive Alliance.
5 One MK left the National Union to establish Herut – The National Movement, whilst the National Union became allied to Yisrael Beiteinu.
6 One MK left Balad to establish Ta'al
was appointed as Speaker of the Knesset.
United Torah Judaism left the coaltion in September 1999 after a breach of the Sabbath. The government finally collapsed on 10 December 2000 when Barak resigned in the face of the outbreak of the Second Intifada and the Israeli Arab riots of October
. Barak called new elections for the position of Prime Minister, which he lost to Ariel Sharon
.
Sharon formed the 29th government on 7 March 2001. He set up a national unity government
, including Likud, Labor-Meimad, Shas, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party, United Torah Judaism, Yisrael BaAliyah, and National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu. Sharon's government had 26 ministers, which later rose to 29, necessitating the addition of a small table to the end of the Ministers row in the Knesset
.
Elections in Israel
Elections in Israel are based on nationwide proportional representation. The electoral threshold is currently set at 2%, 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...
for the 15th Knesset were held on 17 May 1999 alongside simultaneous elections for Prime Minister
Israeli prime ministerial election, 1999
The second Prime Ministerial election in Israel was held on 17 May 1999 alongside elections for the 15th Knesset. Voter turnout was 69.0%.-Context:...
. Voter turnout was 78.7%.
Context
The elections were held at a time when negotiations with the Palestinians were going badly. Although the Wye River MemorandumWye River Memorandum
The Wye River Memorandum was an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestine Authority to implement the earlier Interim Agreement of 28 September, 1995...
had passed the Knesset, it had alienated both the left (who claimed the peace process was moving too slowly) and the right, who were unhappy with territorial concessions. The Likud
Likud
Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
-Gesher-Tzomet
Tzomet
Tzomet is a small secular, right-wing political party in Israel.-Ideology:The party was the one who first brought the "peace for peace" slogan, which today is used by all Israeli right wing parties and movements...
alliance had fallen apart, with more members leaving Likud to set up Herut – The National Movement and the Centre Party
Centre Party (Israel)
The Centre Party , originally known as Israel in the Centre, was a short-lived political party in Israel. Formed in 1999 by former Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, the aim was to create a group of moderates to challenge both Binyamin Netanyahu on the right and opposition leader Ehud Barak's...
.
Netanyahu's government finally gave up the ghost due to difficulties in passing the state budget and in January 1999 passed a bill calling for early elections.
Before the elections, Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
's Labour Party
Labor (Israel)
The Israeli Labor Party , commonly known as HaAvoda , is a social-democratic and labour Zionist political party in Israel. The party is an observer member of both Socialist International and the Party of European Socialists. The Israeli Labor Party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai,...
formed an alliance with Gesher and Meimad
Meimad
Meimad is a left-wing religious Zionist political party in Israel. Founded in 1999, it is based on the ideology of the Meimad movement founded in 1988 by Rabbi Yehuda Amital. At the national level, it was in alliance with the Labour Party, and until the 2006 elections, received 10th spot on the...
called One Israel
One Israel
One Israel was an alliance of the Labor Party, Meimad and Gesher created to run for the 1999 Knesset elections.-Background:One Israel was formed by Labor leader Ehud Barak in the run-up to the 1999 elections with the aim of making Labor appear more centrist and to reduce its secularist and elitist...
in the hope that a united front on the centre-left would give them enough seats to form a more stable coalition.
Results
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Israel One Israel One Israel was an alliance of the Labor Party, Meimad and Gesher created to run for the 1999 Knesset elections.-Background:One Israel was formed by Labor leader Ehud Barak in the run-up to the 1999 elections with the aim of making Labor appear more centrist and to reduce its secularist and elitist... 1 |
670,484 | 20.2 | 26 | |
| Likud Likud Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had... 2 |
468,103 | 14.1 | 19 | |
| Shas Shas Shas is an ultra-orthodox religious political party in Israel, primarily representing Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Judaism.Shas was founded in 1984 by dissident members of the Ashkenazi dominated Agudat Israel, to represent the interests of religiously observant Sephardic and Mizrahi ... |
430,676 | 13.0 | 17 | |
| Meretz | 253,525 | 7.6 | 10 | |
| Yisrael BaAliyah 3 | 171,705 | 5.1 | 6 | |
| Shinui Shinui Shinui is a Zionist, secular and anti-clerical free market liberal party and political movement in Israel. The party twice became the third largest in the Knesset, but both occasions were followed by a split and collapse; in 1977 the party won 15 seats as part of the Democratic Movement for... |
167,748 | 5.0 | 6 | New |
| Centre Party Centre Party (Israel) The Centre Party , originally known as Israel in the Centre, was a short-lived political party in Israel. Formed in 1999 by former Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, the aim was to create a group of moderates to challenge both Binyamin Netanyahu on the right and opposition leader Ehud Barak's... 2 |
165,622 | 5.0 | 6 | New |
| National Religious Party National Religious Party The National Religious Party ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist movement. Formed in 1956, at the time of its dissolution in 2008, it was the second oldest surviving party in the country after Agudat Yisrael, and was part of every government coalition until 1992... |
140,307 | 4.2 | 5 | |
| United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism United Torah Judaism is an alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi political parties in the Knesset. It was first formed in 1992.The two parties have not always agreed with each other about policy matters... |
125,741 | 3.7 | 5 | |
| United Arab List United Arab List The United Arab List , commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Ra'am , is a political party representing and supported by Israeli Arabs... 4 |
114,810 | 3.4 | 5 | |
| National Union National Union (Israel) The National Union is an alliance of nationalist political parties in Israel. In the 2009 elections the National Union consisted of four parties: Moledet, Hatikva, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and Tkuma.-Background:... 5 |
100,181 | 3.0 | 4 | New |
| Hadash Hadash Hadash is a Jewish and Arab socialist front of organizations that runs for the Israeli parliament. It currently has four members in the 120-seat Knesset.-Background:... |
87,022 | 2.6 | 3 | |
| Yisrael Beiteinu 5 | 86,153 | 2.6 | 4 | New |
| Balad Balad (Israel) Balad is an Israeli Arab political party in Israel led by Jamal Zahalka. It is sometimes called the "National Democratic Alliance".- Ideology :... 6 |
66,103 | 1.9 | 2 | |
| One Nation | 64,143 | 1.9 | 2 | New |
| Tnufa Pnina Rosenblum Pnina Rosenblum is an Israeli businesswoman, model and media personality, who has also been involved in politics.-Career:Rosenblum was an actress and fashion model, known to foreign media in her youth as Pnina Golan. She appeared in the films Kasach , Am Yisrael Hai , Lo LeShidur , Diamante Lobo ,... |
44,953 | 1.3 | 0 | New |
| Power for Pensioners | 37,525 | 1.1 | 0 | New |
| Ale Yarok Ale Yarok Ale Yarok is a small and liberal political party in Israel best known for its ideology of decriminalizing cannabis, human rights and environmental activism... |
34,029 | 1.0 | 0 | New |
| The Third Way Third Way (Israel) The Third Way was a political party in Israel in the 1990s.- Background :The party was formed on 7 March 1996 towards the end of the thirteenth Knesset's term when two MKs, Avigdor Kahalani and Emanuel Zisman, broke away from the Labour Party... |
26,290 | 0.7 | 0 | New |
| Green Party The Greens (Israel) The Greens is a minor political party in Israel currently headed by Pe'er Visner. Although the party is currently not represented in the Knesset, it does hold seats in 22 municipalities across Israel.-History:... |
13,292 | 0.4 | 0 | New |
| Tikva Charlie Biton Charlie-Shalom Biton is a former Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Hadash and the Black Panthers between 1977 and 1992.-Biography:Born in Casablanca in Morocco, Biton made aliyah to Israel in 1949 at the age of two... |
7,366 | 0.2 | 0 | New |
| Casino Party | 6,540 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Lev LaOlim | 6,311 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Negev Party | 4,324 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Tzomet Tzomet Tzomet is a small secular, right-wing political party in Israel.-Ideology:The party was the one who first brought the "peace for peace" slogan, which today is used by all Israeli right wing parties and movements... |
4,128 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Natural Law Party | 2,924 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Progressive Center Party | 2,797 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Organization for Democratic Action Organization for Democratic Action The Organisation for Democratic Action is a political party in Israel, where it is commonly known by the acronym, Da'am .-Name:The party has slightly different names in Arabic and Hebrew... |
2,151 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| New Arab Party | 2,042 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Justice for All Justice for All (political party) The Man's Rights in the Family Party is a minor political party in Israel. It is currently headed by Yaakov Shlusser.-Background:The party was founded in 1996 as Justice for All , and campaigned on two distinct issues; Men's rights and for the establishment of a commission to determine who really... |
1,257 | 0.04 | 0 | New |
| Moreshet Avot Yosef Ba-Gad Yosef Ba-Gad is an Israeli former Rosh Yeshiva and politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1992 and 1996.-Biography:Ba-Gad was born in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Motza in Palestine. He attended Yeshivat Hebron and gained an MA from Bar-Ilan University, before working as head... |
1,164 | 0.04 | 0 | New |
| Invalid/blank votes | 64,332 | |||
| Total | 3,309,416 | 100 | 120 | 0 |
| Source: Nohlen et al. | ||||
Note that Yisrael Beiteinu gained a seat after the vote-sharing process was completed. In addition, two parties, Manhigut Yehudit
Manhigut Yehudit
Manhigut Yehudit is a movement started by Moshe Feiglin and Shmuel Sackett to lead the State of Israel with, in their words, "authentic Jewish values." This has been widely interpreted, both by Manhigut supporters and outside observers, as closer to Orthodox Judaism but without a Galut or Exile...
and Voice of the Environment, initially signed up to participate in the election, but withdrew their candidacy before election day.
1 One Israel split into Labor-Meimad
Meimad
Meimad is a left-wing religious Zionist political party in Israel. Founded in 1999, it is based on the ideology of the Meimad movement founded in 1988 by Rabbi Yehuda Amital. At the national level, it was in alliance with the Labour Party, and until the 2006 elections, received 10th spot on the...
(25 seats) and Gesher (2 seats).
2 Five members left the Centre Party. Three established the New Way
New Way (Israel)
-Background:The faction was formed on 6 March 2001 when three MKs, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Dalia Rabin-Pelossof and Uri Savir, broke away from the Centre Party....
and two formed Lev
Lev (political party)
Lev was a short-lived political faction in Israel, existing for only several minutes during the 15th Knesset on 6 November 2002.-Background:After Ariel Sharon formed a coalition government with the Centre Party in 2001 following his victory in the special election for Prime Minister, speculation...
, which immediately merged into Likud. Later, two of the three that set up New Way resigned from the Knesset and were replaced by Centre Party members, whilst the remaining New Way MK joined Labor-Meimad.
3 Two MKs left Yisrael BaAliyah to establish the Democratic Choice
Democratic Choice
The Democratic Choice was a minor political party in Israel headed by Roman Bronfman.-Background:The party was formed in July 1999 during the 15th Knesset when Roman Bronfman and Alexander Tzinker broke away from Yisrael BaAliyah...
.
4 Three MKs left the United Arab List; two established the Arab National Party
Arab National Party
The Arab National Party , alternatively rendered as the National Arab Party, is a minor Israeli Arab political party in Israel led by Muhamad Kanan.-Background:...
and one formed National Unity - National Progressive Alliance.
5 One MK left the National Union to establish Herut – The National Movement, whilst the National Union became allied to Yisrael Beiteinu.
6 One MK left Balad to establish Ta'al
Ta'al
Ta'al is an Israeli Arab political party in Israel led by Ahmad Tibi.-History:Ta'al was founded by Tibi in the mid 1990s. It ran in the 1996 elections under the name Arab Union, but won only 2,087 votes . For the 1999 elections it ran as part of the Balad list. Tibi won a seat, and broke away from...
The Fifteenth Knesset
After winning the Prime Ministerial elections, Ehud Barak formed the 28th government of Israel on 6 July 1999. His coalition included One Israel, Shas, Meretz, Yisrael BaAliyah, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party and United Torah Judaism, and initially had 16 ministers, though the number later rose to 24. Avraham BurgAvraham Burg
Avraham "Avrum" Burg is an Israeli author; he was formerly a member of the Knesset, a chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel and a Speaker of the Knesset.-Biography:...
was appointed as Speaker of the Knesset.
United Torah Judaism left the coaltion in September 1999 after a breach of the Sabbath. The government finally collapsed on 10 December 2000 when Barak resigned in the face of the outbreak of the Second Intifada and the Israeli Arab riots of October
October 2000 events
The October 2000 events were a series of protests in Arab villages in northern Israel in October 2000 that turned violent, escalating into clashes between Israeli Arabs and the Israel Police and ending in the deaths of demonstrators.The Or Commission was established to investigate the police...
. Barak called new elections for the position of Prime Minister, which he lost to Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
.
Sharon formed the 29th government on 7 March 2001. He set up a national unity government
National unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity, or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other national emergency.- Canada :During World War I the Conservative government of Sir...
, including Likud, Labor-Meimad, Shas, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party, United Torah Judaism, Yisrael BaAliyah, and National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu. Sharon's government had 26 ministers, which later rose to 29, necessitating the addition of a small table to the end of the Ministers row in the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
.
External links
- Historical overview of the Fifteenth Knesset Knesset website
- Election results Knesset website