1955 Israeli legislative election

none 1951 1959 26 July 1955 82.83% Israel Mapai David Ben-Gurion 40 45 32.20 Herut Menachem Begin 15 8 12.56 General Zionists Israel Rokach 13 20 10.21 National Religious Front Haim-Moshe Shapira 11 10 9.13 Ahdut HaAvoda Yitzhak Tabenkin 10 new 8.14 Mapam Meir Ya'ari 9 15 7.31 Religious Torah Front Yitzhak-Meir Levin 6 5 4.67 Maki (historical political party) Shmuel Mikunis 6 5 4.51 Progressive Party (Israel) Pinchas Rosen 5 4 4.41 Democratic List for Israeli Arabs Seif el-Din el-Zoubi 2 3 1.81 Progress and Work Salah-Hassan Hanifes 2 1 1.47 Agriculture and Development Faras Hamdan 1 1 1.15 Moshe Sharett Mapai David Ben-Gurion Mapai Prime Ministerthumb|300px|Prime minister Moshe Sharett votes Legislative elections were held in Israel on 26 July 1955 to elect the members of the third Knesset. Voter turnout was 83%.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p124 0-19-924958-X Parliament factions List of political parties in Israel The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 2nd Knesset. Name Ideology Symbol Leader 1951 resultSeats at 1954dissolution Votes (%) Seats Mapai Social democracyLabor Zionism א David Ben-Gurion37.3% 45 120 Mapai47 120 Mapai General Zionists Liberalism צ Israel Rokach16.2% 20 120 General Zionists 22 120 General Zionists Mapam Labor ZionismMarxism מ Meir Ya'ari12.5% 15 120 Mapam7 120 Mapam Hapoel HaMizrachi Religious Zionism ו Haim-Moshe Shapira6.8% 8 120 Hapoel HaMizrachi8 120 Hapoel HaMizrachi Herut Revisionist Zionism ח Menachem Begin6.6% 8 120 Herut 8 120 Herut Maki Communism ק Shmuel Mikunis4.0% 5 120 Maki (historical political party)7 120 Maki (historical political party) Ahdut HaAvoda Labor Zionism תו Yitzhak-Meir Levin- 0 120 Ahdut HaAvoda4 120 Ahdut HaAvoda Progressive Party LiberalismProgressivism פ Pinchas Rosen3.2% 4 120 Progressive Party (Israel) 4 120 Progressive Party (Israel) Democratic List for Israeli Arabs Arab satellite list יד Seif el-Din el-Zoubi2.0% 3 120 #C613183 120 #C61318 Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism ג Yitzhak-Meir Levin2.0% 3 120 Agudat Yisrael3 120 Agudat Yisrael Sephardim and Oriental Communities Sephardic and Mizrahi interests סצ Eliyahu Elyashar1.8% 2 120 Sephardim and Oriental Communities 0 120 Sephardim and Oriental Communities Poalei Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism ד Binyamin Mintz1.6% 2 120 Poalei Agudat Yisrael2 120 Poalei Agudat Yisrael Mizrachi Religious Zionism ב David-Zvi Pinkas1.5% 2 120 Mizrachi (political party)2 120 Mizrachi (political party) Progress and Work Arab satellite list נ Salah-Hassan Hanifes1.2% 1 120 #C613181 120 #C61318 Yemenite Association Yemenite Jewish interest ל Shimon Garidi1.2% 1 120 Yemenite Association1 120 Yemenite Association Agriculture and Development Arab satellite list ע Faras Hamdan1.1% 1 120 #C613181 120 #C61318 Results Mapai retained its plurality in the Knesset, although its share of the vote dropped by 5.1 and its share of seats dropped from 47 (at the end of the Second Knesset) to 40. Meanwhile, Herut overtook the General Zionists, Mapam, and Hapoel HaMizrachi to become the second-largest party, with its share of seats nearly doubling (from 8 in the Second Knesset to 15 in the Third). The Third Knesset is notable for being the only Knesset thus far in which none of the represented parties merged or split (although two parties did change their names) and no MKs switched parties, making it the most stable Knesset in Israel's history. File:1955 Knesset.svg Mapai 274735 40 −5 Herut 107190 15 +7 General Zionists 87099 13 −7 National Religious Front 77936 11 +1 Ahdut HaAvoda 69475 10 New Mapam 62401 9 −6 Religious Torah Front 39836 6 +1 Maki 38492 6 +1 Progressive Party 37661 5 +1 Democratic List for Israeli Arabs 15475 2 −1 Progress and Work 12511 2 +1 Agriculture and Development 9791 1 0 Sephardim and Oriental Communities 6994 0 −2 Arab List – The Centre 4484 0 New Likud – Popular Economic Movement 3044 0 New Yemenite Association 2459 0 −1 Original Religious List 2448 0 New New Immigrants' List 1188 0 New 22969 0 1057795 CEC, Nohlen et al. Aftermath thumb|250px|Golda Meir at first session of the Third Knesset (1951) List of members of the third Knesset Unlike the second Knesset, the third Knesset was one of the most stable in Israel's history. There were only two governments, and it was the only Knesset to date during which none of the parties split or merged. As with the first and second Knesset, the speaker was Yosef Sprinzak until his death on 28 January 1959. He was replaced by Ahdut HaAvoda's Nahum Nir. Seventh government Seventh government of Israel The third Knesset started with David Ben-Gurion forming the seventh government of Israel (the previous two Knessets had six governments; two in the first and four in the second) on 3 November 1955. His Mapai party formed a coalition with the National Religious Front (which later changed its name to the National Religious Party), Mapam, the Progressive Party, Ahdut HaAvoda, and the three Israeli Arab parties, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work, Agriculture and Development. The government had 16 ministers. It collapsed when Ben-Gurion resigned on 31 December 1957 over the leaking of information from ministerial meetings. Eighth government Eighth government of Israel Ben-Gurion formed the eighth government a week later on 7 January 1958 with the same coalition partners. The number of ministers remained the same. The eighth government collapsed when Ben-Gurion resigned again on 5 July 1959 after Labour Unity and Mapam had voted against the government on the issue of selling arms to West Germany and refused to leave the coalition. Elections for the fourth Knesset were called for 3 November 1959. References External links Historical overview of the Third Knesset Knesset website Election results Knesset website Legislative Category:Legislative elections in Israel Israel Israel Category:David Ben-Gurion Category:Menachem Begin