1981 Israeli legislative election

Knesset elections were held in Israel on 30 June 1981. The ruling Likud won one more seat than the opposition Alignment, in line with many polls which had predicted a tight race.[1] Voter turnout was 78.5%,[2] with Likud receiving around ten thousand more than the Alignment.[2] This elections highlighted the polarization in the country.[3]

1981 Israeli legislative election
Israel
30 June 1981

All 120 seats in the Knesset
61 seats needed for a majority
Turnout78.50% (Decrease0.73pp)
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
Likud Menachem Begin 37.11 48 +3
Alignment Shimon Peres 36.57 47 +15
Mafdal Yosef Burg 4.92 6 -6
Agudat Yisrael Avraham Yosef Shapira 3.73 4 0
Hadash Meir Vilner 3.35 4 -1
Tehiya Yuval Ne'eman 2.31 3 New
Tami Aharon Abuhatzira 2.30 3 New
Telem Moshe Dayan 1.58 2 New
Shinui Amnon Rubinstein 1.54 2 -5
Ratz Shulamit Aloni 1.44 1 0
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Menachem Begin
Likud
Menachem Begin
Likud

Background

Prior to the elections, Menachem Begin's government faced instability due to internal conflict amongst coalition partners and international pressures, as well as issues with corruption, and failure to pass legislation.[4] Discontent with the government was growing, and 40% of people agreed that "the major problems facing the state and the entire political system must be changed and a strong government of leaders and independent of parties should take control".[5] Due to the dissatisfaction with the government, it was expected that Likud would lose the elections.

Parliament factions

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 9th Knesset.

Name Ideology Symbol Leader 1977 result Seats at 1980
dissolution
Votes (%) Seats
Likud National liberalism מחל Menachem Begin 33.4%
43 / 120
42 / 120
Alignment Social democracy
Labor Zionism
אמת Shimon Peres 24.6%
32 / 120
34 / 120
Democratic Movement for Change
Democratic Movement
Liberalism יש Yigael Yadin 11.6%
15 / 120
3 / 120
Movement for Change and Initiative
Shinui
Liberalism
Centrism
Amnon Rubinstein
0 / 120
4 / 120
Ahva Liberalism Shafik Asaad
Shlomo Eliahu
0 / 120
1 / 120
Ya'ad Liberalism Assaf Yaguri
0 / 120
1 / 120
Mafdal Religious Zionism ב Yosef Burg 9.2%
12 / 120
12 / 120
Hadash Communism
Socialism
ו Meir Vilner 4.6%
5 / 120
5 / 120
Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism ג Yehuda Meir Abramowicz 3.3%
4 / 120
4 / 120
Telem Centrism כן Moshe Dayan -
0 / 120
3 / 120
Tehiya Ultranationalism
Revisionist Zionism
ת Yuval Ne'eman
Geula Cohen
-
0 / 120
2 / 120
Flatto-Sharon Populism פש Shmuel Flatto-Sharon 2.0%
1 / 120
1 / 120
Sheli Socialism ש Aryeh Eliav 1.6%
2 / 120
2 / 120
United Arab List Arab satellite list ימ Seif el-Din el-Zoubi 1.4%
1 / 120
1 / 120
Poalei Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism ד Kalman Kahana 1.3%
1 / 120
1 / 120
Ratz Social democracy
Secularism
רצ Shulamit Aloni 1.2%
1 / 120
1 / 120
Independent Liberals Liberalism לע Gideon Hausner 1.2%
1 / 120
1 / 120
Independent - - - -
0 / 120
2 / 120

Electoral system

The 120 seats in the Knesset were elected by closed list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. This led to numerous parties winning seats and multi-party government coalitions.

Campaign

Since 1965 parties had begun abandoning attempts to frame moral issues in favor of spreading wider nets to catch a bigger range of voters. Rather than focusing on controversial issues that divided them, parties took to forming clusters that resorted to "emotive catchwords" and the lowest common denominator.[4] The party clusters had set aside fundamental ideals in order to work together, which meant that infighting amongst the coalitions was inevitable.[4]

Menachem Begin, Likud's most popular candidate, served as a strong factor for the party's resurgence. 41% of the adult Jews responded in favor of seeing Begin as prime minister, with 49% saying Begin would better be able to deal with the country’s problems.[6] The Alignment, whose announcement of potential major ministerial appointments failed to include Yitzhak Rabin, left the impression of a power-hungry group of politicians, with animosity between party leaders Shimon Peres and Rabin.[7]

Public perception of the parties became instrumental in the elections; throughout the campaign the Alignment was seen and painted as the establishment party, considered by 48% of Israeli citizens surveyed to be more old-fashioned, despite its opposition to the government for the four years prior. The Alignment was also seen as self-interested by rather than interested in the good of the people, as well as corrupt. Likud, meanwhile, was seen as slightly stronger (50% as compared with the Alignment's 44%), more honest (57%), and more concerned with the fate of the citizens than that of the party (45%). Likud was able to benefit from having only been created 8 years prior, giving it an image of newness and innocence.[7]

Public perception of the parties[8]
Characteristic Ideal Alignment Likud
Strong/weak 93/92 44/33 50/33
Right/left 55/13 28/40 77/7
Old-fashioned/progressive 15/61 48/26 42/31
Middle class/working class 28/32 27/42 55/14
Young/old 52/10 17/51 28/35
Sephardi/Ashkenazi 11/11 6/47 18/25
Worries about itself/the citizens 3/89 43/37 31/45
Inexperienced/experienced 4/86 4/79 45/38
Honest/corrupt 35/39 57/18
Cannot/can be believed 36/42 32/48

The 1981 elections also saw a rise in the use of ethnic ideas within the political discourse.[9] While Likud and the Alignment were both led by Ashkenazi politicians, the Alignment was considered the party of the Ashkenazi Jews, with the Sephardic vote lost to Likud. The likelihood of Sephardim voting for Likud and Ashkenazim voting for the Alignment was more pronounced than ever before.[10] However, Likud enjoyed the advantage of still being able to appeal to a significant amount of Ashkenazi voters, while also maintaining their Sephardi popularity; in contrast, the Alignment was seen as even less Sephardi than in previous years.[10]

Conduct

Police noted before election day that "there hasn’t been an election campaign in Israel as violent as the present one".[11] A reason for the violence may have been that this was the first elections in which the public believed both sides had a chance of winning, causing unrest and agitation.[12]

Results

Scholars attribute the Likud's comeback, from its lowest point six months prior to the 1981 legislative election, to five main factors: incumbency, candidates, images, campaigns, violence, and ethnicity.[7] Likud's role as the ruling party enabled the party to use its incumbency advantage to increase popularity with policy implementation. The party implemented tax programs that lowered prices for consumers, subsidized oil products at a higher rate than ever before, and used foreign policy that made the Alignment seem unpatriotic if they argued against the moves.[7]

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Likud718,94137.1148+3
Alignment708,53636.5747+15
National Religious Party95,2324.926−6
Agudat Yisrael72,3123.7340
Hadash64,9183.354−1
Tehiya44,7002.313New
Tami44,4662.303New
Telem30,6001.582New
Shinui29,8371.542–5
Ratz27,9211.4410
Poalei Agudat Yisrael17,0900.880−1
Independent Liberals11,7640.610−1
United Arab List11,5900.600−1
Development and Peace10,8230.560−1
Left Camp of Israel8,6910.450−2
Arab Brotherhood List8,3040.430New
List for Aliyah6,9920.360New
Kach5,1280.2600
Independence4,7100.240New
One Israel3,7260.190New
Arab Citizens' List2,5960.130New
Pensioners' List2,4040.120New
Unity Party1,2930.070New
Ya'ad1,2280.060New
Otzma8390.040New
Tent Movement5450.030New
Abolish Income Tax5030.030New
Amkha4600.020New
Youth Movement4120.020New
Council to Rescue the Homeland4050.020New
Initiative–Independents Movement4000.020New
Total1,937,366100.001200
Valid votes1,937,36699.12
Invalid/blank votes17,2430.88
Total votes1,954,609100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,490,01478.50
Source: IDI, Nohlen et al.

Aftermath

Menachim Begin (of the Likud) became Prime Minister and in August 1981 included the National Religious Party, Agudat Yisrael, the Movement for the Heritage of Israel (Tami) and Tehiya in his coalition to form the nineteenth government.[2] After Begin resigned due to health reasons, Yitzhak Shamir formed the twentieth government in October 1983, with the same coalition parties.[2]

During the Knesset term, two MKs defected from Likud to the Alignment. Haim Drukman left the National Religious Party and sat as an independent MK, whilst two other MKs left the National Religious Party and formed Gesher – Zionist Religious Centre before returning two weeks later. Telem split into Ometz and the Movement for the Renewal of Social Zionism, whilst Ratz joined the Alignment but then broke away again.

See also

References

  1. Silver, Eric (1981-06-30). "Labour leads on eve of Israeli poll". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  2. "Factional and Government Make-Up of the Tenth Knesset".
  3. Arian, Asher (1983). The Elections in Israel, 1981. Israel: Ramot Publishing Co.
  4. Mendilow, Jonathan (1983). "Party Clustering in Multi-Party Systems: The Example of Israel (1965-1981)". American Journal of Political Science XXVII: 64–85.
  5. Hasin, E. (1981). Survey conducted by M. Zemach. January 1981, quoted in "The Israeli Democracy: The Beginning of the End?" Monition 30:73-75.
  6. Survey by Dahaf Research Institute, June 1981, N=1237
  7. Arian, Asher (1983). The Elections in Israel, 1981. Ramot Publishing Co. pp. 1–5.
  8. Arian, Asher (April 1981). "Israeli Election Study, 1981". Israel Institute of Applied Social Research. Archived from the original on 2020-07-25. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  9. Hanna Herzog, 'The Ethnic Lists to the Delegates' Assembly and the Knesset (1920 1977) Ethnic Political Identity?' Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Tel-Aviv University, 1981.
  10. Shamir, Michal; Arian, Asher (1982). "The ethnic vote in Israel's 1981 elections". Electoral Studies. 1 (3): 315–331. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(82)90221-9.
  11. Salpeter, Eliahu. " A Scary Face in the Mirror." Haaretz, 19 June 1981, p.14.
  12. Lehman-Wilzig, Sam (1983). "Thunder Before The Storm: Pre-Election Agitation And Post-Election Turmoil". The Elections in Israel, 1983: 207.
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