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Israeli prime ministerial election, 1999

 

 
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Israeli prime ministerial election, 1999
 
 
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The second Prime Ministerial election
Elections in Israel

Israel elects its national legislature, the Knesset, by proportional representation on a national list basis. The Knesset has 120 members, elected for terms of four years....
 in Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
 was held on 17 May, 1999 alongside elections for the 15th Knesset.

was only the second election for Prime Minister in Israel, the 1996 vote
Israeli prime ministerial election, 1996

The first ever election for Prime Minister was held in Israel on 29 May 1996 alongside simultaneous Israeli legislative election, 1996. There were only two candidates, Shimon Peres of the Labor and Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud....
 having been an extremely tight contest between Binyamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres

Order of St Michael and St George is the ninth and current President of Israel. Peres served twice as Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 Cabinet of Israel in a political career spanning over 66 years....
.

The vote was held at a time when negotiations with the Palestinians were going badly. Although the Wye River Memorandum
Wye River Memorandum

The Wye River Memorandum was an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestine Authority to implement the earlier Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip....
 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.

Originally five candidates planned to run:

However, Begin, Bishara (the first Israeli Arab to stand for Prime Minister) and Mordechai dropped out after it became clear they could not win, and were costing votes to the major candidates (Barak and Netanyahu) at their end of the political spectrum.

Aftermath Although Barak won the Prime Ministerial election comfortably, his One Israel
One Israel

One Israel was an alliance of the Labor Party , Meimad and Gesher created to run for the Israeli legislative election, 1999....
 alliance won only 26 seats, meaning he had to form a convoluted coalition with Shas
Shas

Shas is a List of political parties in Israel in Israel, primarily representing Haredi Judaism Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews Judaism. Following the Israeli legislative election, 2006 in which Shas won 12 seats, it joined Ehud Olmert's coalition government and holds four cabinet posts....
, Meretz, Yisrael BaAliyah, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party
National Religious Party

The National Religious Party was a List of political parties in Israel in Israel representing the Religious Zionism 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....
 and United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism

United Torah Judaism is an Political alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi Judaism Politics of Israel in the Knesset....
.

When Barak's government collapsed after the start of the Second Intifada and the October Israeli Arab riots in 2000, Barak called new elections for Prime Minister in the hope of winning an authoritative mandate.






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Encyclopedia


The second Prime Ministerial election
Elections in Israel

Israel elects its national legislature, the Knesset, by proportional representation on a national list basis. The Knesset has 120 members, elected for terms of four years....
 in Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
 was held on 17 May, 1999 alongside elections for the 15th Knesset.

Context

This was only the second election for Prime Minister in Israel, the 1996 vote
Israeli prime ministerial election, 1996

The first ever election for Prime Minister was held in Israel on 29 May 1996 alongside simultaneous Israeli legislative election, 1996. There were only two candidates, Shimon Peres of the Labor and Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud....
 having been an extremely tight contest between Binyamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres

Order of St Michael and St George is the ninth and current President of Israel. Peres served twice as Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 Cabinet of Israel in a political career spanning over 66 years....
.

The vote was held at a time when negotiations with the Palestinians were going badly. Although the Wye River Memorandum
Wye River Memorandum

The Wye River Memorandum was an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestine Authority to implement the earlier Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip....
 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.

Originally five candidates planned to run:
  • Ehud Barak
    Ehud Barak

    Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician, former Prime Minister of Israel, and current Defense Minister of Israel, Deputy leaders of Israel#Deputy Prime Minister and leader of Israel's Labor Party ....
     of One Israel
    One Israel

    One Israel was an alliance of the Labor Party , Meimad and Gesher created to run for the Israeli legislative election, 1999....
     (an alliance of Labour, Gesher and Meimad
    Meimad

    Meimad is a left-wing Religious Zionism List of political parties in Israel in Israel. Founded in 1999, it is based on the ideology of the Meimad movement founded in 1988 by Rabbi Yehuda Amital....
    )
  • Benny Begin of Herut – The National Movement
  • Azmi Bishara
    Azmi Bishara

    Azmi Bishara , is a Palestinian Christian politician. A member of the Israeli Knesset representing the Balad party from 1996 until resigning in April 2007, Bishara is still the leader of that party....
     of Balad
    Balad

    AL-Balad is the historical area of Jeddah, the second largest city of Saudi Arabia. Balad can literally be translated as "The Town". Balad traces its history 2,500 years back as a fishing village when the Quda'a fishermen tribe settled there....
  • Yitzhak Mordechai
    Yitzhak Mordechai

    Yitzhak Mordechai was an Israeli general, and later Defense Minister of Israel and Transportation Minister of Israel. He retired from political life in 2000 after being indicted for sexual misconduct during his military service....
     of 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 of Israel 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 Labor Party on the left....
  • Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud
    Likud

    Likud is the major center-right List of political parties in Israel in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin, largely as the "direct ideological descendant" of the Herut, in an alliance with several other right-wing and liberal parties....


However, Begin, Bishara (the first Israeli Arab to stand for Prime Minister) and Mordechai dropped out after it became clear they could not win, and were costing votes to the major candidates (Barak and Netanyahu) at their end of the political spectrum.

Results


CandidatePartyVotes% of vote
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak

Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician, former Prime Minister of Israel, and current Defense Minister of Israel, Deputy leaders of Israel#Deputy Prime Minister and leader of Israel's Labor Party ....
One Israel
One Israel

One Israel was an alliance of the Labor Party , Meimad and Gesher created to run for the Israeli legislative election, 1999....
1,791,02056.1%
Binyamin NetanyahuLikud
Likud

Likud is the major center-right List of political parties in Israel in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin, largely as the "direct ideological descendant" of the Herut, in an alliance with several other right-wing and liberal parties....
1,402,47443.9%


Aftermath

Although Barak won the Prime Ministerial election comfortably, his One Israel
One Israel

One Israel was an alliance of the Labor Party , Meimad and Gesher created to run for the Israeli legislative election, 1999....
 alliance won only 26 seats, meaning he had to form a convoluted coalition with Shas
Shas

Shas is a List of political parties in Israel in Israel, primarily representing Haredi Judaism Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews Judaism. Following the Israeli legislative election, 2006 in which Shas won 12 seats, it joined Ehud Olmert's coalition government and holds four cabinet posts....
, Meretz, Yisrael BaAliyah, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party
National Religious Party

The National Religious Party was a List of political parties in Israel in Israel representing the Religious Zionism 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....
 and United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism

United Torah Judaism is an Political alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, two small Israeli Haredi Judaism Politics of Israel in the Knesset....
.

When Barak's government collapsed after the start of the Second Intifada and the October Israeli Arab riots in 2000, Barak called new elections for Prime Minister in the hope of winning an authoritative mandate. However, he was well-beaten by Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon

is a former Israeli Prime Minister of Israel and military leader. Sharon served as Prime Minister from March 2001 until April 2006, though he was unable to carry out his duties after suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006, when he fell into a coma and entered a persistent vegetative state....
 and subsequently resigned from politics.

External links

  • Knesset website