1969 Israeli legislative election

Legislative elections were held in Israel on 28 October 1969 to elect members of the seventh Knesset. The ruling Alignment coalition was returned to power with the largest number of seats ever won in an Israeli election (56 out of 120). This was 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 received 51.2% of the vote in the previous elections in 1965. As a result, Golda Meir remained Prime Minister. Voter turnout was 81.7%.^[1]

Elections for the 7th Knesset

← 1965 28 October 1969 1973 →
All 120 seats in the Knesset 61 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	81.7% ( 4.2 pp)
Party Leader Vote % 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 Rakah Meir Vilner 2.8 3 0 Progress and Development Seif el-Din el-Zoubi 2.1 2 0 PAI 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

Counting of the election results

A voter in the elections

Entrance to a voting booth for the municipal elections, which were held simultaneously

Parliament factions

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

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 6th Knesset.

Name		Ideology	Symbol	Leader	1965 result		Seats at 1968 dissolution
					Votes (%)	Seats
	Labor	Social democracy Labor Zionism	את‎	Golda Meir	36.7%	45 / 120	54 / 120
	Gahal	National liberalism	חל‎	Menachem Begin	21.3%	26 / 120	20 / 120
	Mafdal	Religious Zionism	ב‎	Haim-Moshe Shapira	8.9%	11 / 120	11 / 120
	Rafi	Social democracy	כא‎	Moshe Dayan	7.9%	10 / 120	0 / 120
	Mapam	Labor Zionism Socialism	מ‎	Meir Ya'ari	6.6%	8 / 120	8 / 120
	Free Centre	Liberalism	ט‎	Shmuel Tamir	-	0 / 120	6 / 120
	Independent Liberals	Liberalism	לע‎	Moshe Kol	3.8%	5 / 120	5 / 120
	Agudat Yisrael	Religious conservatism	ג‎	Yitzhak-Meir Levin	3.3%	4 / 120	4 / 120
	Rakah	Communism Socialism	ו‎	Meir Vilner	2.3%	3 / 120	3 / 120
	Poalei Agudat Yisrael	Religious conservatism	ד‎	Kalman Kahana	1.9%	2 / 120	2 / 120
	Progress and Development	Arab satellite list	רא‎	Seif el-Din el-Zoubi	1.8%	2 / 120	2 / 120
	Arab List for Bedouin and Villagers	Arab satellite list	יא‎	Diyab Obeid	1.3%	2 / 120	2 / 120
	Meri	Socialism	ש‎	Uri Avnery	1.2%	1 / 120	1 / 120
	Maki	Communism	ק‎	Shmuel Mikunis	1.1%	1 / 120	1 / 120
	National List	Social liberalism	עמ‎	David Ben-Gurion	-	0 / 120	1 / 120

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Alignment	632,035	46.21	56	−7
	Gahal	296,294	21.66	26	0
	National Religious Party	133,238	9.74	12	1
	Agudat Yisrael	44,002	3.22	4	0
	Independent Liberals	43,933	3.21	4	−1
	National List	42,654	3.12	4	New
	Rakah	38,827	2.84	3	0
	Progress and Development	28,046	2.05	2	0
	Poalei Agudat Yisrael	24,968	1.83	2	0
	Cooperation and Brotherhood	19,943	1.46	2	0
	HaOlam HaZeh – Koah Hadash	16,853	1.23	2	1
	Free Centre	16,393	1.20	2	New
	Maki	15,712	1.15	1	0
	List for the Land of Israel	7,591	0.56	0	New
	Peace List	5,138	0.38	0	0
	Young Israel	2,116	0.15	0	0
Total		1,367,743	100.00	120	0
Valid votes		1,367,743	95.78
Invalid/blank votes		60,238	4.22
Total votes		1,427,981	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,748,710	81.66
Source: Israel Democracy Institute

Aftermath

See also: List of members of 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 three MKs changing parties; Meir Avizohar left the National List in 1972 to sit as an independent, before joining the Alignment the following year; Avner Shaki left the National Religious Party in 1972 and sat as an independent; and Shalom Cohen left HaOlam HaZeh – Koah Hadash in 1972.^[2]

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p125 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
2. Mergers and Splits Among Parliamentary Groups Knesset

External links

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