Israeli legislative election, 1959
Elections for the 4th Knesset
| 3 November 1959 |
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| This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. |
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Elections for the fourth Knesset were held in Israel on 3 November 1959. Voter turnout was 81.5%.[1]
Results
| Party |
Votes |
% |
Seats |
+/− |
|---|
| Mapai | 370,585 | 38.2 | 47 | +7 |
| Herut | 130,515 | 13.5 | 17 | +2 |
| National Religious Party | 95,581 | 9.9 | 12 | +1 |
| Mapam | 69,468 | 7.2 | 9 | 0 |
| General Zionists ¹ | 59,700 | 6.2 | 8 | −5 |
| Ahdut HaAvoda | 58,043 | 6.0 | 7 | −3 |
| Religious Torah Front ² | 45,569 | 4.7 | 6 | 0 |
| Progressive Party ¹ | 44,889 | 4.6 | 6 | +1 |
| Maki | 27,374 | 2.8 | 3 | −3 |
| Progress and Development | 12,347 | 1.3 | 2 | New |
| Cooperation and Brotherhood | 11,104 | 1.1 | 2 | New |
| Agriculture and Development | 10,902 | 1.1 | 1 | 0 |
| | | | | |
| Union of North African Immigrants | 8,199 | 0.8 | 0 | New |
| Progress and Work | 4,651 | 0.5 | 0 | −2 |
| Independent Faction for Israeli Arabs | 3,818 | 0.4 | 0 | New |
| Israeli Arab Labour Party | 3,369 | 0.3 | 0 | New |
| Sephardi National Party | 3,133 | 0.3 | 0 | New |
| National Union | 2,456 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
| Holocaust Handicapped and Injured Faction | 1,765 | 0.2 | 0 | New |
| Yemenite Faction | 1,711 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 |
| Independents | 1,611 | 0.2 | 0 | New |
| Socialist Union (Bund) | 1,322 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| New Immigrants Front | 631 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
| Third Power | 594 | 0.1 | 0 | New |
| Invalid/blank votes | 24,967 | – | – | – |
| Total | 994,306 | 100 | 120 | 0 |
| Source: Nohlen et al. |
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 Yisrael (four seats) and Poalei Agudat Yisrael (two seats).
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, Ahdut HaAvoda, 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.
References
- ↑ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p124 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
External links
