1965 Israeli legislative election

none 1961 1969 2 November 1965 All 120 seats in the Knesset 61 85.86% ( 4.29pp) Israel Labor Alignment #F21D21 Levi Eshkol 45 50 36.74 Gahal Menachem Begin 26 34 21.29 National Religious Party Haim-Moshe Shapira 11 12 8.95 Rafi (political party) David Ben-Gurion 10 new 7.90 Mapam Meir Ya'ari 8 9 6.63 Independent Liberals (Israel) Pinchas Rosen 5 new 3.75 Agudat Yisrael Yitzhak-Meir Levin 4 4 3.30 Rakah Meir Vilner 3 new 2.27 Poalei Agudat Yisrael Kalman Kahana 2 2 1.83 Progress and Development Seif el-Din el-Zoubi 2 2 1.36 Cooperation and Brotherhood Diyab Obeid 2 2 1.36 HaOlam HaZeh Uri Avnery 1 new 1.17 Maki (historical political party) Shmuel Mikunis 1 5 1.13 Levi Eshkol Mapai Levi Eshkol Alignment Prime Minister Elections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 2 November 1965.Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, ed. A History of the Jewish People (Harvard University Press, 1976) p1092"Labor Leads Israeli Election", Montreal Gazette, 3 November 1965, p1 Voter turnout was 85.9%.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p124 0-19-924958-X Background 1965 Mapai leadership election Prior to the elections, two major alliances were formed; Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda united to form the Alignment, whilst Herut and the Liberal Party had formed the Gahal alliance towards the end of the previous Knesset session. However, both Mapai and the Liberal Party had been hit by breakaway factions, the Ben-Gurion led Rafi and the Independent Liberals (largely composed of former Progressive Party members) respectively. The communist Maki had also experienced a split earlier in the year, with most of its Arab members and some Jewish members breaking away to establish Rakah. thumb|Elder Israeli citizen of Moroccan origin voting in Ashdod, 1965 A new Mapai-affiliated Arab party, Cooperation and Brotherhood was formed to contest the election, whilst the Arab Socialist List was prevented from running by the Central Elections Committee due to its links with the banned al-Ard organisation. Peace activist Abie Nathan entered a party list, Nes. Parliament factions List of political parties in Israel The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 6th Knesset. Name Ideology Symbol Leader 1961 resultSeats at 1964dissolution Votes (%) Seats Mapai Social democracyLabor Zionism א Levi Eshkol34.7% 42 120 Mapai34 120 Mapai Herut Revisionist Zionism ח Menachem Begin13.8% 17 120 Herut 17 120 Herut Libralit Liberalism ל Peretz BernsteinYosef Serlin13.6% 17 120 Liberal Party (Israel) 10 120 Liberal Party (Israel) Mafdal Religious Zionism ב Haim-Moshe Shapira9.8% 12 120 National Religious Party12 120 National Religious Party Mapam Labor ZionismMarxism מ Meir Ya'ari7.8% 9 120 Mapam9 120 Mapam Ahdut HaAvoda Labor Zionism תו Yisrael Galili6.6% 8 120 Ahdut HaAvoda8 120 Ahdut HaAvoda Rafi Social democracy כא David Ben-Gurion- 0 120 Rafi (political party)8 120 Rafi (political party) Independent Liberals Liberalism לע Pinchas Rosen- 0 120 Independent Liberals (Israel)7 120 Independent Liberals (Israel) Maki Communism ק Shmuel Mikunis4.2% 5 120 Maki (historical political party)5 120 Maki (historical political party) Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism ג Yitzhak-Meir Levin3.7% 4 120 Agudat Yisrael4 120 Agudat Yisrael Poalei Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism ד Kalman Kahana1.9% 2 120 Poalei Agudat Yisrael2 120 Poalei Agudat Yisrael Cooperation and Brotherhood Arab satellite list יא Diyab Obeid1.9% 2 120 #C613182 120 #C61318 Progress and Development Arab satellite list רא Ahmed A-Dahar1.6% 2 120 #C613182 120 #C61318 Results File:1965 Knesset.svg Labour Alignment 443379 45 −5 #F21D21 Gahal 256957 26 −8 National Religious Party 107966 11 −1 Rafi 95328 10 New Mapam 79985 8 −1 Independent Liberals 45299 5 New Agudat Yisrael 39795 4 0 Rakah 27413 3 New Progress and Development 23430 2 0 Poalei Agudat Yisrael 22066 2 0 Cooperation and Brotherhood 16464 2 0 HaOlam HaZeh – Koah Hadash 14124 1 New Maki 13617 1 −4 Movement for Brotherhood 11244 0 New Peace List 5536 0 New Nes 2135 0 New Young Israel 1990 0 New 37978 0 1449709 IDI,IDI Nohlen et al. Rafi (political party) Aftermath List of members of the sixth Knesset The sixth Knesset started with Levi Eshkol's Alignment forming the thirteenth government on 12 January 1966. His coalition included the National Religious Party, Mapam, the Independent Liberals, Poalei Agudat Yisrael, Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood, and had eighteen ministers. Kadish Luz of the Alignment retained his position as Knesset Speaker. At the end of August, 1966 the new Knesset at Givat Ram in Jerusalem was opened. When the Six-Day War broke out on 5 June 1967, Gahal and Rafi joined the coalition to form a national unity government with 21 ministers. The government was ended by Eshkol's death on 26 February 1969. Golda Meir of the Alignment formed the fourteenth government, also a national unity government, on 17 March 1969. The coalition partners were Gahal, the National Religious Party, the Independent Liberals, Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood. In 1968 Rafi, Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda merged into the Labor Party in 1968, although David Ben-Gurion (Rafi) became an independent. In 1969 the Labor Party formed an alliance with Mapam also named the Alignment. The new Alignment held 63 seats, the only time a single faction has ever held a majority in the Knesset. Other affiliation changes during the Knesset term included Yizhar Harari leaving the Independent Liberals to join the Alignment, four MKs breaking away from Gahal to establish the Free Centre and Progress and Development and Cooperation and Brotherhood merging to form Cooperation and Development (which then broke up into the two original parties, the Druze Party and Jewish-Arab Brotherhood, each with a single seat). References External links Historical overview of the Sixth Knesset Knesset website Election results on the Knesset website The Sixth Knesset on the Knesset website Legislative Legislative election Category:Legislative elections in Israel Israel Israel Category:Levi Eshkol Category:Menachem Begin Category:David Ben-Gurion