1973 Israeli legislative election

Legislative elections were held in Israel on 31 December 1973. Voter turnout was 78.6%.[1] The election was postponed for two months because of the Yom Kippur War.

1973 Israeli legislative election
Israel
31 December 1973

All 120 seats in the Knesset
61 seats needed for a majority
Turnout78.6% (Decrease 3.1 pp)
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
Alignment Golda Meir 39.6 51 -5
Likud Menachem Begin 30.2 39 +7
Mafdal Yosef Burg 8.3 10 -2
Religious Torah Front Shlomo Lorincz 3.8 5 -1
Independent Liberals Moshe Kol 3.6 4 0
Rakah Meir Vilner 3.4 4 +1
Ratz Shulamit Aloni 2.2 3 New
Progress and Development Seif el-Din el-Zoubi 1.4 2 0
Moked Meir Pa'il 1.4 1 0
Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers Hamad Abu Rabia 1.0 1 New
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Golda Meir
Alignment
Golda Meir
Alignment

Parliament factions

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 7th Knesset.

Name Ideology Symbol Leader 1969 result Seats at 1972
dissolution
Votes (%) Seats
Alignment Social Democracy
Labor Zionism
אמת Golda Meir 46.2%
56 / 120
56 / 120
Gahal National liberalism חל Menachem Begin 21.7%
26 / 120
26 / 120
Mafdal Religious Zionism ב Yosef Burg 9.7%
12 / 120
12 / 120
Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism ג Yehuda Meir Abramowicz 3.2%
4 / 120
4 / 120
Independent Liberals Liberalism לע Moshe Kol 3.2%
4 / 120
4 / 120
National List Social liberalism עמ Yigal Hurvitz 3.1%
4 / 120
4 / 120
Rakah Communism
Socialism
ו Meir Vilner 2.8%
3 / 120
3 / 120
Progress and Development Arab satellite list רא Seif el-Din el-Zoubi 2.1%
2 / 120
2 / 120
Poalei Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism ד Kalman Kahana 1.9%
2 / 120
2 / 120
Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers Arab satellite list עא Hamad Abu Rabia 1.4%
2 / 120
2 / 120
Meri Socialism ש Uri Avnery 1.2%
2 / 120
2 / 120
Free Centre Liberalism ט Shmuel Tamir 1.2%
2 / 120
2 / 120
Maki Communism ק Moshe Sneh 1.1%
1 / 120
1 / 120

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Alignment621,18339.6551−5
Likud473,30930.2139+7
National Religious Party130,3498.3210−2
Religious Torah Front60,0123.835−1
Independent Liberals56,5603.6140
Rakah53,3533.414+1
Ratz35,0232.243New
Progress and Development22,6041.4420
Moked22,1471.4110
Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers16,4081.051New
Black Panthers13,3320.850New
The League List12,8110.820New
Meri10,4690.670−1
Movement for Social Equality10,2020.650New
Cooperation and Brotherhood9,9490.630−2
Blue White Panthers5,9450.380New
Brotherhood Movement4,4330.280New
Israeli Arab List3,2690.210New
Yemenite List3,1950.200New
Socialist Revolution List1,2010.080New
Popular Movement1,1010.070New
Total1,566,855100.001200
Valid votes1,566,85597.86
Invalid/blank votes34,2432.14
Total votes1,601,098100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,037,47878.58
Source: IDI, Nohlen et al.

Aftermath

Golda Meir of the Alignment formed the sixteenth government on 10 March 1974, including the National Religious Party and the Independent Liberals in her coalition, with 22 ministers. Meir resigned on 11 April 1974 after the Agranat Commission had published its interim report on the Yom Kippur War.

The Alignment's Yitzhak Rabin formed the seventeenth government on 3 June 1974, including Ratz, the Independent Liberals, Progress and Development and the Arab List for Bedouins and Villagers. The new government had 19 ministers. The National Religious Party joined the coalition on 30 October and Ratz left on the 6 November, by which time there were 21 ministers.

The government resigned on 22 December 1976, after ministers of the National Religious Party were sacked because the party had abstained from voting on a motion of no confidence, which had been brought by Agudat Yisrael over a breach of the Sabbath on an Israeli Air Force base.

During the Knesset term there were several defections from parties; In 1975 Aryeh Eliav left the Alignment and merged with Ratz to form Ya'ad - Civil Rights Movement. The new party broke up the following year when Eliav and Marcia Freedman left to set up the Independent Socialist Faction, whilst Shulamit Aloni and Boaz Moav returned to Ratz. In 1975 Benjamin Halevi left Likud to sit as an independent, whilst Shmuel Tamir and Akiva Nof left Likud to form the Free Centre the following year.[2] In 1977 Hillel Seidel defected from the Independent Liberals to Likud, whilst Mordechai Ben-Porat broke away from the Alignment and sat as an independent.[2]

In February 1974 Progress and Development and the Arab List for Bedouins and Villagers merged into the Alignment (with which they were already associated), but both later broke away and then formed the United Arab List in 1977. In the build-up to the 1977 elections the Religious Torah Front broke up into Agudat Yisrael (three seats) and Poalei Agudat Yisrael in March 1977. On 10 April Mapam broke away from the Alignment, but rejoined it two days later.[2]

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p125 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
  2. Mergers and Splits Among Parliamentary Groups Knesset
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