1973 Israeli legislative election

none October 2025 1973 Israeli legislative election 1969 1977 31 December 1973 All 120 seats in the Knesset 61 78.58% ( 3.08pp) Israel Alignment (Israel) Golda Meir 51 56 39.65 Likud Menachem Begin 39 32 30.21 National Religious Party Yosef Burg 10 12 8.32 Religious Torah Front Shlomo Lorincz 5 6 3.83 Independent Liberals (Israel) Moshe Kol 4 4 3.61 Rakah Meir Vilner 4 3 3.41 Ratz (political party) Shulamit Aloni 3 new 2.24 Progress & Development Seif el-Din el-Zoubi 2 2 1.44 Moked Meir Pa'il 1 1 1.41 Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers Hamad Abu Rabia 1 new 1.05 Golda Meir Alignment (Israel) Golda Meir Alignment (Israel) Prime Minister thumb|alt=Picture of Golda Meir as the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1964|The Alignment party, led by Golda Meir, received the plurality of the votes in the 1973 elections. Legislative elections were held in Israel on 31 December 1973. Voter turnout was 79%.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p125 0-19-924958-X The election was postponed for two months because of the Yom Kippur War. Parliament factions List of political parties in Israel The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 7th Knesset. Name Ideology Symbol Leader 1969 result Seats at 1972dissolution Votes (%) Seats Alignment Social democracyLabor Zionism אמת Golda Meir46.2% 56 120 Alignment (Israel) 57 120 Alignment (Israel) Gahal National liberalism חל Menachem Begin21.7% 26 120 Gahal 26 120 Gahal Mafdal Religious Zionism ב Yosef Burg9.7% 12 120 National Religious Party 11 120 National Religious Party Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism ג Yehuda Meir Abramowicz3.2% 4 120 Agudat Yisrael 4 120 Agudat Yisrael Independent Liberals Liberalism לע Moshe Kol3.2% 4 120 Independent Liberals (Israel) 4 120 Independent Liberals (Israel) National List Social liberalism עמ Yigal Hurvitz3.1% 4 120 National List 3 120 National List Rakah CommunismSocialism ו Meir Vilner2.8% 3 120 Maki (political party) 3 120 Maki (political party) Progress and Development Arab satellite list רא Seif el-Din el-Zoubi2.1% 2 120 #C61318 2 120 #C61318 Poalei Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism ד Kalman Kahana1.9% 2 120 Poalei Agudat Yisrael 2 120 Poalei Agudat Yisrael Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers Arab satellite list עא Hamad Abu Rabia1.4% 2 120 #C61318 2 120 #C61318 Meri Progressivism ש Uri Avnery1.2% 2 120 Meri (political party) 1 120 Meri (political party) Free Centre Liberalism ט Shmuel Tamir1.2% 2 120 Free Centre 2 120 Free Centre MokedMoked's sole MK, Moshe Sneh, was elected as part of Maki in 1969, which merged into Moked on 25 July 1973. Socialism ק Moshe Sneh1.1% 1 120 Maki (historical political party) 1 120 MokedIndependents - - - - -2 120 silverAvner Shaki left Mafdal and founded the Movement for Social Equality, but did not sit as a member of the party. Shalom Cohen left Meri and ran in 1973 as leader of the Black Panthers, but did not sit as a member either. Campaign In July 1973, retired general Ariel Sharon, a member of the Liberal Party, facilitated a wider alliance between Gahal (of which the Liberals were a member), the National List, and the Free Centre.Lis, Jonathan 11 January 2014 Ariel Sharon, former Israeli prime minister, dies at 85 https://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.546747 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20140111174341/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.546747 11 January 2014 13 January 2014 HaaretzSilver, Eric 11 January 2014 Ariel Sharon dies: Obituary – Unlike his right-wing predecessors, former Israeli PM was 'a pragmatist who could make concessions without feeling that he was committing sacrilege' https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ariel-sharon-dies-obituary--unlike-his-rightwing-predecessors-former-israeli-pm-was-a-pragmatist-who-could-make-concessions-without-feeling-that-he-was-committing-sacrilege-9034506.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20140112162851/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ariel-sharon-dies-obituary--unlike-his-rightwing-predecessors-former-israeli-pm-was-a-pragmatist-who-could-make-concessions-without-feeling-that-he-was-committing-sacrilege-9034506.html 12 January 2014 13 January 2014 The IndependentTovah Lazaroff 12 January 2014 Sharon: The life of a lion https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Sharon-The-life-of-a-lion-337867 live https://web.archive.org/web/20141209114040/http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Sharon-The-life-of-a-lion-337867 9 December 2014 5 December 2014 The Jerusalem Post The National List agreed as they had been declining since the retirement of their leader, David Ben-Gurion. The Free Centre had seceded from Gahal in 1967 due to a leadership dispute between Menachem Begin and Shmuel Tamir, but the party was enticed back with three high slots on the Likud list. The Movement for Greater Israel was also admitted, eventually winning one seat. The election was initially scheduled for 30 October.Staff C. I. E. 2024-12-31 8th Knesset Is Elected https://israeled.org/eighth-knesset-elections/ 2026-09-15 CIE en-US Observers had predicted it to be an easy victory for the Alignment, who could not lose more than 6 seats. Golda Meir, the Alignment leader, had planned a campaign centred around taxation, inflation and strikes.Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov) https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00875R001100160084-7.pdf 2026-09-15 www.cia.gov The breakout of the Yom Kippur War, which delayed the election, was a blow to the Alignment's prestige, and shifted the campaign to focus on war and peace. Meir stated that Israel had to retain its Jewish character, even if it meant territorial compromise.Arian Alan 1975 Were the 1973 Elections in Israel Critical? https://www.jstor.org/stable/421456 Comparative Politics Comparative Politics, Ph.D. Programs in Political Science, City University of New York 8 1 152–165 10.2307/421456 0010-4159 subscription The Likud rejected compromise, and attacked the Alignment for their poor preparation, and for ceasing hostilities before 'complete victory' was attained. Many changes happened on the left. Shalom Cohen left Meri to join the Black Panthers. However, they suffered a split when Eddie Malka formed the Blue-White Panthers, which had more financial resources. Neither of the two lists received enough votes for a seat, but would have won one if they had stayed together.Cohen Shalom Shemesh Kokhavi 1976 The Origin and Development of the Israeli Black Panther Movement https://www.jstor.org/stable/3011125 MERIP Reports Middle East Research and Information Project, Inc. (MERIP) 49 19–22 10.2307/3011125 0047-7265 subscription After having been rejected from the Alignment list twice, Shulamit Aloni was convinced by her friends and family to submit her own list, for a new party, the Movement for Civil Rights (Ratz), which she submitted 30 minutes before the application deadline. Aloni was still a Labor member when she did this, and was expelled.Shargil Yitzhak 5 October 1973 Is There ANYONE Who Isn't Running For Office? https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/chncijn/1973/10/05/01/article/4/?srpos=3&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7CtxTI-Shulamit+Aloni----1973---------1 Intermountain Jewish News⁩ Opinion polls A poll conducted by the Institute for Social Research poll from the 17th to 18th of December indicated 50% of Jewish voters would vote for the Alignment, 29% for the Likud, 5% for Mafdal, 4% for Ratz, 3% for the Independent Liberals, 2% for the Religious Torah Front, 2% for Moked and 1% for the Black Panthers.28 December 1973 Vote for Ratz https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/dav/1973/12/28/01/article/51.1/?srpos=8&e=-------en-20--1-byDA.rev-img-txIN%7CtxTI-%D7%A8%D7%A6----1973---------1 Davar Results Alignment 621183 51 −5 Likud 473309 39 +7 National Religious Party 130349 10 −2 Religious Torah Front 60012 5 −1 Independent Liberals 56560 4 0 Rakah 53353 4 +1 Ratz 35023 3 New Progress and Development 22604 2 0 Moked 22147 1 0 Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers 16408 1 New Black Panthers 13332 0 New black The League List 12811 0 New gold Meri 10469 0 −1 Movement for Social Equality 10202 0 New Cooperation and Brotherhood 9949 0 −2 Blue White Panthers 5945 0 New Brotherhood Movement 4433 0 New Israeli Arab List 3269 0 New Yemenite List 3195 0 New Socialist Revolution List 1201 0 New Popular Movement 1101 0 New 34243 0 2037478 IDI, Nohlen et al. Likud black National Religious Party red Aftermath List of members of the eighth Knesset thumb|285px|Signing the agreement that would see Yitzhak Rabin elected prime minister 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.https://www.knesset.gov.il/review/ReviewPage3.aspx?kns=8&lng=3 Eighth Knesset Knesset https://web.archive.org/web/20140302230719/https://www.knesset.gov.il/review/ReviewPage3.aspx?kns=8&lng=3 2014-03-02 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 6 November, by which time there were 21 ministers.October 2025 The government resigned on 21 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. 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.Mergers and Splits Among Parliamentary Groups Knesset 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. Notes References External links Historical overview of the Eighth Knesset Knesset Election results Knesset Israel Legislative election Category:Legislative elections in Israel israel Israel Category:Golda Meir Category:Menachem Begin