2009 Israeli legislative election

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Elections for the
18th Knesset
Israel
← 2006 10 February 2009 2013 →

All 120 seats in the Knesset
61 seats needed for a majority
Turnout64.7% (Increase 1.1 pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/–
Kadima Tzipi Livni 22.47 28 −1
Likud-Ahi Benjamin Netanyahu 21.61 27 +15
Yisrael Beiteinu Avigdor Lieberman 11.70 15 +4
Labor Ehud Barak 9.93 13 −6
Shas Eli Yishai 8.49 11 −1
UTJ Yaakov Litzman 4.39 5 −1
Ra'amTa'al Ibrahim Sarsur 3.38 4 0
National Union Yaakov Katz 3.34 4 −2
Hadash Mohammad Barakeh 3.32 4 +1
Meretz Haim Oron 2.95 3 −2
Jewish Home Daniel Hershkowitz 2.87 3 0
Balad Jamal Zahalka 2.48 3 0
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Ehud Olmert
Kadima
Benjamin Netanyahu
Likud
Benjamin Netanyahu
A privacy divider to ensure ballot secrecy

Elections for the 18th Knesset were held in Israel on 10 February 2009.[1] These elections became necessary due to the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader of the Kadima party, and the failure of his successor, Tzipi Livni, to form a coalition government. Had Olmert remained in office or had Livni formed a coalition government, the elections would have been scheduled for 2010 instead.

Although the incumbent prime minister's party, Kadima, won the most seats in the parliament, the Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was able to form a majority coalition government and become the new prime minister.

Background

On 17 September 2008, Kadima held a leadership election, which was won by Tzipi Livni. Following Livni's victory, former party leader Ehud Olmert (who did not run in the contest) resigned as Prime Minister. Livni was given six weeks to form a coalition,[2] but set a deadline of 26 October for parties to agree to join the new government.

Although the

Meretz-Yachad were still ongoing.[5] On 26 October, Livni recommended to President Shimon Peres that early elections be held.[3]

President Peres had three days to consult on the recommendation, after which there was a period of three weeks in which other Knesset members could have offered to form an alternative coalition, but no such alternative was brought.[3]

The election would have to be held within 90 days after the end of that period.[2] Although Kadima submitted a bill to the Knesset on 27 October to call early elections and bypass the three-week period,[6] Peres' announcement to the Knesset that there was no chance of forming a government meant that the full waiting period stood.[6] Ehud Olmert was to remain the caretaker Prime Minister until a new government was formed after the elections.[2]

The traditional distinction between the Israeli left and the right had become blurred, with both the voters and the main candidates gravitating toward the center. Israelis, who had always been highly politicized, were switching affiliations more easily. On the Palestinian front, stark differences among the parties still remained. Kadima was committed to continuing talks for a two-state solution. Labor did not believe that bilateral Israeli–Palestinian negotiations could succeed under the current circumstances, and advocated a more comprehensive, regional approach to peace. Likud said it would promote an "economic peace" with the Palestinians and also hold political negotiations, although it was not clear about what.[7][8]

Procedures

Elections to the Knesset allocate 120 seats by

election threshold
for the 2006 election was set at 2% (up from 1.5% in previous elections), which is a little over two seats.

After official results are published, the President delegates the task of forming a government to the member of Knesset with the best chance of assembling a majority coalition (usually the leader of the largest party, but not required). That member has up to 42 days to negotiate with the different parties, and then present the government to the Knesset for a

vote of confidence
. Once the government is approved (by a vote of at least 61 members), the leader becomes Prime Minister.

Parliament factions

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the

17th Knesset
.

Name Ideology Symbol Leader 2006 result Seats at 2008
dissolution
Votes (%) Seats
Kadima Liberalism כן Tzipi Livni 22.02%
29 / 120
29 / 120
Labor Social democracy אמת Ehud Barak 15.06%
19 / 120
19 / 120
Shas
Religious conservatism
שס Eli Yishai 9.53%
12 / 120
12 / 120
Likud National liberalism מחל Benjamin Netanyahu 8.99%
12 / 120
12 / 120
Yisrael Beiteinu Nationalism
Secularism
ל Avigdor Lieberman 8.99%
11 / 120
11 / 120
National Union-NRP Religious Zionism
National conservatism
טב Yaakov Katz 7.14%
9 / 120
9 / 120
Gil
Pensioners' interests זך Rafi Eitan 5.92%
7 / 120
7 / 120
UTJ
Religious conservatism
ג Yaakov Litzman 4.69%
6 / 120
6 / 120
Meretz Social democracy
Secularism
מרצ Haim Oron 3.77%
5 / 120
5 / 120
Ra'am-Ta'al Arab nationalism
Islamism
עם Ibrahim Sarsur 3.02%
4 / 120
4 / 120
Hadash Communism
Socialism
ו Mohammad Barakeh 2.74%
3 / 120
3 / 120
Balad
Pan-arabism
ד Jamal Zahalka 2.30%
3 / 120
3 / 120

Parties

By 23 December 2008, a record 43 parties had registered with the parties registrar, compared to 31 for the

Central Elections Committee on the grounds that they failed to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and called for armed conflict against it.[11] Balad and Ta'al were also disqualified from the 2003 election, but won a Supreme Court case which allowed them to run.[12] On 21 January 2009, the Supreme Court again revoked the ban.[13]

Alliances

The

Meretz and Tnu'a HaHadasha, a new movement of left-wing activists led by Tzali Reshef, ran a joint list, with Tnua'a HaHadasha representatives getting third, seventh, and eleventh spots on the alliance's list.[15]

The anti-West Bank barrier movement Tarabut was merged into Hadash.[16]

The religious

Agudat Israel and Degel HaTorah agreed to continue their alliance, United Torah Judaism, for the election.[18]

New parties

Several political parties had been established since the 2006 elections. The first was

Yisrael Hazaka was established by the former Labor member of the Knesset, Efraim Sneh
, in May 2008.

After the announcement of elections in late October 2008, the

Tkuma and Moledet factions of the National Union and the National Religious Party merged into a single party in early November 2008,[19] which was later named The Jewish Home. However, the National Union was re-established after the Moledet and Tkuma factions broke away from the party and agreed to an alliance with Hatikva headed by Aryeh Eldad and Eretz Yisrael Shelanu (Our Land of Israel) headed by Rabbi Sholom Dov Wolpo and Baruch Marzel.[10][20][21][22]

Member of the Knesset Abbas Zakour left the United Arab List to establish the Arab Centre Party in early December 2008.[23] However, he later joined the Balad list.[24]

Opinion polls

Source Party
Kadima Labor Party Shas Likud Yisrael Beiteinu Jewish Home National Union Gil United Torah Judaism Meretz United Arab List–Ta'al Hadash Balad The Greens
17th Knesset 29 19 12 12 11 9 7 6 5 4 3 3 0
Dahaf
27 Oct[25]
29 11 11 26 9 7 2 7 6 10 2
Teleseker
27 Oct[26]
31 11 8 29 11 7 0 4 5 11 3
Gal Hadash
30 Oct[27]
30 13 10 31 8 6 0 5 5 10 2
Gal Hadash
13 Nov[28]
28 11 10 33 7 6 0 5 7 10 3
Dialog
20 Nov[29]
28 10 10 34 10 4 0 6 7 11 0
Dahaf
20 Nov[30]
26 8 11 32 9 6 0 7 7 11 3
Shvakim Panorama
15 Dec[31]
20 14 12 34 11 4 0 7 6 9 0
Teleseker
19 Dec[32]
30 12 9 30 12 5 0 5 7 10 0
Dialog
25 Dec[33]
26 11 13 30 11 6 2 5 8 3 3 2
Dialog
31 Dec[34]
27 16 9 32 11 3 5 7 4 4 2
Reshet Bet
15 Jan[35]
21 15 10 28 15 3 3 0 7 5 4 3 3 3
Panels
22 Jan[36]
24 15 10 30 15 2 4 5 6 4 3 2
Dialog
29 Jan[37]
25 14 10 28 15 3 4 2 5 5 4 3 2
Midgam
3 Feb[38]
23 17 10 28 18 4 3 5 4 2 4 2
Teleseker
4 Feb[39]
23 17 10 27 17 3 4 5 6 4 4 0
Shvakim Panorama
5 Feb[40]
21 16 11 25 16 4 4 2 7 5 3 4 2
Panels
5 Feb[41]
25 14 10 26 18 3 4 5 6 3 4 2
Dahaf
6 Feb[42]
23 16 10 25 19 3 4 6 5 4 3 2
Dialog
6 Feb[43]
25 14 9 27 18 2 4 6 7 3 3 2
Source
Kadima Labor Party Shas Likud Yisrael Beiteinu Jewish Home National Union Gil United Torah Judaism Meretz United Arab List–Ta'al Hadash Balad The Greens
Party

Results

right-wing
parties won a majority; thus, Netanyahu managed to form a coalition government after the elections, and thus became the new Prime Minister.
Ballot papers
Lehem
6110.020New
Total3,373,490100.001200
Valid votes3,373,49098.74
Invalid/blank votes43,0971.26
Total votes3,416,587100.00
Registered voters/turnout5,278,98564.72
Source: Knesset Board of Elections

Government formation

Former Kadima Party chairwoman Tzipi Livni. Although Kadima won the most seats in the 2009 elections under her leadership, it became an opposition party.

On 20 February, President Shimon Peres announced that Likud's

elected Prime Minister by direct vote
, although his Likud party won fewer seats than Shimon Peres's Labor party. Peres's motivation in nominating Netanyahu was likely based upon the judgement that Netanyahu was in a better position numerically to put together a coalition. Likud's potential partners on the political right won more seats than the parties of the centre-left, who would more likely support Kadima.

Labor and Kadima initially stated they would not join a Likud-led government, although both parties scheduled further talks.[45][46][47] Polls at the time showed that the public supported a national unity government between Likud and Kadima, with either Yisrael Beiteinu or Labor as the third senior coalition member.[48]

On 16 March 2009, Netanyahu signed a coalition agreement with Yisrael Beitenu.[49] Following an extension of the coalition negotiation deadline from 20 March to 3 April 2009, he then signed a coalition agreement with Shas on 22 March 2009,[50] and on 24 March 2009, he secured the support of the Labor Party, with Labor's central committee approving the deal by 680 votes to 507.[51] However, large parts of the party remained sceptical, accusing Ehud Barak of only being interested in his own benefits under the deal.[52] On 25 March, the Jewish Home also joined the coalition.[53]

On 30 March, in accordance with the Israeli

Knesset speaker, Michael Eitan, that he was able to form a government and the Knesset was set to convene on 31 March 2009, in order to vote on the government in a "Vote of Confidence" and to be sworn in thereafter.[55] The country's 32nd government was approved that day by a majority of 69 lawmakers,[56] with United Torah Judaism joining the following day, expanding the coalition to 74 MKs.[57]

Unity Government 2012

On 27 March 2012, the Opposition party Kadima called for leadership primaries, pitting its leader Tzipi Livni against Shaul Mofaz.[58] Mofaz won with 62% of the vote. Livni resigned from the Knesset in May 2012.[59]

Earlier, Netanyahu defeated his rival Moshe Feiglin, winning 77% of the vote in the primaries for the Likud leadership held on 31 January 2012.[60]

On the eve of 7 May 2012, after weeks of deliberation and rumours, Netanyahu called for an early general national election and proposed 4 September as the election day, a notion which seemed inevitable—but in a dramatic turn of events, that very night, he announced that he had forged a unity government with the Kadima Party, effectively retracting the earlier call for early elections. The next afternoon, Likud and Kadima signed a coalition agreement placing Kadima's 28 Knesset members in the government, with Mofaz appointed as Active Vice Premier (in case of Netanyahu's absence) and Minister Without Portfolio. This agreement bolstered the government to the widest government in Israel's history, with a coalition of 94 seats and an opposition of only 26.

Haredi groups, such as Shas, which are on opposite sides of the universal draft issue. This led some commentators to suggest that the coalition's complete break-up was imminent, and that new elections would take place by January 2013.[62]

See also

References

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External links

Analysis