1988 Israeli legislative election

Elections for the 12th Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1988. Voter turnout was 79.7%.[1]

Elections for the 12th Knesset

1 November 1988
Turnout	79.7%
Party Leader % Seats ± Likud Yitzhak Shamir 31.1% 40 -1 Alignment Shimon Peres 30.0% 39 -5 Shas Yitzhak Haim Peretz 4.7% 6 +2 Agudat Yisrael Moshe Ze'ev Feldman 4.5% 5 +3 Ratz Shulamit Aloni 4.3% 5 +2 Mafdal Avner Hai Shaki 3.9% 5 +1 Hadash Meir Wilner 3.7% 4 0 Tehiya Yuval Ne'eman 3.1% 3 Mapam Yair Tzaban 2.5% 3 Tzomet Rafael Eitan 2.0% 2 Moledet Rehavam Ze'evi 1.9% 2 New Shinui Amnon Rubinstein 1.7% 2 -1 Degel HaTorah Avraham Ravitz 1.5% 2 New PLFP Mohammed Miari 1.5% 1 -1 Mada Abdulwahab Darawshe 1.2% 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Yitzhak Shamir Likud Yitzhak Shamir Likud

Parliament factions

For a more comprehensive list, see List of political parties in Israel.

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 11th Knesset.

Name		Ideology	Symbol	Leader	1984 result		Seats at 1988 dissolution
					Votes (%)	Seats
	Alignment	Social democracy Labor Zionism	אמת‎	Shimon Peres	34.9%[lower-alpha 1]	38 / 120	41 / 120
	Mapam	Labor Zionism Socialism	מפם‎	Yair Tzaban		6 / 120	5 / 120
	Likud	National conservatism National liberalism	מחל‎	Yitzhak Shamir	31.9%	41 / 120	41 / 120
	Tehiya-Tzomet	Ultranationalism Revisionist Zionism	ת‎	Yuval Ne'eman Rafael Eitan	4.0%	5 / 120	5 / 120
	Mafdal	Religious Zionism	ב‎	Yosef Burg	3.5%	4 / 120	4 / 120
	Hadash	Communism Socialism	ו‎	Meir Vilner	3.4%	4 / 120	5 / 120
	Shas	Religious conservatism Populism	שס‎	Yitzhak Peretz	3.1%	4 / 120	4 / 120
	Shinui	Liberalism Centrism	הן‎	Amnon Rubinstein	2.7%	3 / 120	3 / 120
	Ratz	Social democracy Secularism	רצ‎	Shulamit Aloni	2.4%	3 / 120	3 / 120
	Yahad	Centrism	ט‎	Ezer Weizman	2.2%	3 / 120	0 / 120
	PLFP	Pro-peace	פ‎	Mohammed Miari	1.8%	2 / 120	2 / 120
	Agudat Yisrael	Religious conservatism	ג‎	Avraham Yosef Shapira	1.7%	2 / 120	2 / 120
	Morasha	Religious conservatism Social Conservatism	עד‎	Haim Drukman	1.6%	2 / 120	2 / 120
	Tami	Religious Zionism Economic egalitarianism	ני‎	Aharon Abuhatzira	1.5%	1 / 120	1 / 120
	Kach	Religious Zionism Kahanism	כך‎	Meir Kahane	1.2%	1 / 120	1 / 120
	Ometz	National liberalism	יש‎	Yigal Hurvitz	1.2%	1 / 120	1 / 120

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/−
Likud ^1 6 7	709,305	31.1	40	−1
Alignment ^6 7	685,363	30.0	39	−5
Shas ^2	107,709	4.7	6	+2
Agudat Yisrael ^3	102,714	4.5	5	+2
Ratz ^4	97,513	4.3	5	+2
National Religious Party	89,720	3.9	5	+1
Hadash ^5	84,032	3.7	4	0
Tehiya	70,730	3.1	3	−2
Mapam ^4	56,345	2.5	3	New
Tzomet	45,489	2.0	2	New
Moledet	44,174	1.9	2	New
Shinui ^4 6	39,538	1.7	2	−1
Degel HaTorah	34,279	1.5	2	New
Progressive List for Peace	33,279	1.5	1	−1
Arab Democratic Party	27,012	1.2	1	New
Pensioners	16,674	0.7	0	New
Meimad	15,783	0.7	0	New
Derekh Aretz	4,253	0.2	0	New
Or Movement	4,182	0.2	0	New
Movement for Social Justice	3,222	0.1	0	New
Yishai – Tribal Israel Together	2,947	0.1	0	New
Movement for Moshavim	2,838	0.1	0	New
Tarshish	1,654	0.1	0	New
Silent Power	1,579	0.1	0	New
Movement for Demobilised Soldiers	1,018	0.0	0	New
Yemenite Association	909	0.0	0	New
Unity – for Victor Tayar to the Knesset	446	0.0	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	22,444	–	–	–
Total	2,305,567	100	120	0
Source: Nohlen et al.

¹ Five members of the Likud left to form the Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea; after two returned, the party was renamed the New Liberal Party. One member moved from the Alignment to the Likud.

² One MK left Shas and established Moria.

³ One MK left Agudat Yisrael and established Geulat Yisrael.

⁴ Ratz, Mapam, and Shinui merged into Meretz.

⁵ Black Panthers broke away from Hadash.

⁶ One member of Shinui joined Ratz, whilst an Alignment MK joined Shinui.

⁷ Efraim Gur left the Alignment to establish Unity for Peace and Immigration, which later merged into Likud.

The 12th Knesset

See also: List of members of the twelfth Knesset

Likud's Yitzhak Shamir formed the twenty-third government on 22 December 1988, including the Alignment, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah in his coalition, with 25 ministers.

In 1990 Shimon Peres tried to form an Alignment-led coalition in a move that became known as "the dirty trick", but failed to win sufficient support. Eventually Shamir formed the twenty-fourth government on 11 June 1990, with a coalition encompassing Likud, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael, Degel HaTorah, the New Liberal Party, Tehiya, Tzomet, Moledet, Unity for Peace and Immigration and Geulat Yisrael. Tehiya, Tzomet and Moledet all left the coalition in late 1991/early 1992 in protest at Shamir's participation in the Madrid Conference.

The Twelfth Knesset saw the rise of the ultra-orthodox religious parties as a significant force in Israeli politics, and as a crucial "swing" element which could determine which of the large 2 secular parties (Likud, Alignment) would get to form the coalition government.

Notes

1. Mapam had been part of the Alignment since 1969, but the party broke away prior to the 1988 election as a gesture of disapproval of the national unity government with Likud.

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p127 ISBN 0-19-924958-X

External links

• Historical overview of the Twelfth Knesset Knesset website (in English)
• Election results Knesset website