Israeli legislative election, 1969

Elections for the 7th Knesset

28 October 1969

Party Leader % Seats ± Alignment Golda Meir 46.2% 56 -7 Gahal Menachem Begin 21.7% 26 0 Mafdal Haim-Moshe Shapira 9.7% 12 +1 Agudat Yisrael Yitzhak-Meir Levin 3.2% 4 0 Independent Liberals Moshe Kol 3.2% 4 -1 National List David Ben-Gurion 3.1% 4 New Maki Meir Vilner 2.8% 3 0 Progress and Development Seif el-Din el-Zoubi 2.1% 2 0 Poalei Agudat Yisrael Kalman Kahana 1.9% 2 0 Cooperation and Brotherhood Diyab Obeid 1.4% 2 0 Meri Uri Avnery 1.2% 2 +1 Free Centre Shmuel Tamir 1.2% 2 New Maki Moshe Sneh 1.1% 1 0

This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Golda Meir Alignment Golda Meir Alignment

Elections for the seventh Knesset were held in Israel on 28 October 1969. Voter turnout was 81.7%.^[1]

Background

Six-Day War

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/−
Alignment ¹	632,135	46.2	56	−7
Gahal	296,294	21.7	26	0
National Religious Party ²	133,238	9.7	12	+1
Agudat Yisrael	44,002	3.2	4	0
Independent Liberals	43,933	3.2	4	−1
National List ¹	42,654	3.1	4	New
Rakah	38,827	2.8	3	0
Progress and Development	28,046	2.1	2	0
Poalei Agudat Yisrael	24,968	1.9	2	0
Cooperation and Brotherhood	19.943	1.4	2	0
HaOlam HaZeh – Koah Hadash ³	16,853	1.2	2	+1
Free Centre	16,393	1.2	2	New
Maki	15,712	1.1	1	0
List for the Land of Israel	7,591	0.6	0	New
Peace List	5,138	0.4	0	0
Young Israel	2,116	0.1	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	60,238	–	–	–
Total	1,427,981	100	120	0
Source: Nohlen et al.

¹ Meir Avizohar defected from the National List to the Alignment

² Avner Shaki left the National Religious Party and remained a single MK

³ Shalom Cohen left HaOlam HaZeh – Koah Hadash, which was renamed Meri

The election

The 1969 election is notable for the fact that the Alignment coalition was returned to power with the largest number of seats ever won in an Israeli election (56 out of 120). It is also the only time a party or electoral alliance has even approached winning a majority in an election. This can be attributed to the government's popularity following the country's victory in the Six Day War, and that the Alignment had been formed by an alliance of the four most popular left-wing parties who between them had taken 51.2% of the vote in the previous election.

It was also the last election with such a decisive majority for the left-wing in Israel, as the disastrous Yom Kippur War shortly before the next elections seriously damaged the Alignment's credibility, with its margin over Likud (the largest right-wing grouping) reduced to only 12 seats.

The Seventh Knesset

Golda Meir of the Alignment formed the fifteenth government, a national unity government including Gahal, the National Religious Party, the Independent Liberals, Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood. There were 24 ministers.

Gahal resigned from the coalition on 6 August 1970 after the government had decided to adopt the Rogers Plan.

The seventh Knesset was one of the most stable, with only one new party created (and that itself was virtually a rename of an existing party) and four MKs changing parties.

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p125 ISBN 0-19-924958-X

External links

• Historical overview of the Seventh Knesset Knesset website (English)
• Election results on the Knesset website
• The Seventh Knesset on the Knesset website