From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base
1988 Israeli legislative election
none
none
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| previous_election | [1984](1984-israeli-legislative-election) |
| next_election | [1992](1992-israeli-legislative-election) |
| election_date | 1 November 1988 |
| seats_for_election | All 120 seats in the Knesset |
| majority_seats | 61 |
| turnout | 79.66% ( 0.88pp) |
| country | Israel |
| party1 | Likud |
| leader1 | Yitzhak Shamir |
| seats1 | 40 |
| last_election1 | 41 |
| percentage1 | 31.07 |
| party2 | Alignment (political party) |
| leader2 | Shimon Peres |
| seats2 | 39 |
| last_election2 | 44 |
| percentage2 | 30.02 |
| party3 | Shas |
| leader3 | Yitzhak Haim Peretz |
| seats3 | 6 |
| last_election3 | 4 |
| percentage3 | 4.72 |
| party4 | Agudat Yisrael |
| leader4 | Moshe Ze'ev Feldman |
| seats4 | 5 |
| last_election4 | 2 |
| percentage4 | 4.50 |
| party5 | Ratz (political party) |
| leader5 | Shulamit Aloni |
| seats5 | 5 |
| last_election5 | 3 |
| percentage5 | 4.27 |
| party6 | National Religious Party |
| leader6 | Avner Hai Shaki |
| seats6 | 5 |
| last_election6 | 4 |
| percentage6 | 3.93 |
| party7 | Hadash |
| leader7 | Meir Vilner |
| seats7 | 4 |
| last_election7 | 4 |
| percentage7 | 3.68 |
| party8 | Tehiya |
| leader8 | Yuval Ne'eman |
| seats8 | 3 |
| last_election8 | 4 |
| percentage8 | 3.10 |
| party9 | Mapam |
| leader9 | Yair Tzaban |
| seats9 | 3 |
| last_election9 | 6 |
| percentage9 | 2.47 |
| party10 | Tzomet |
| leader10 | Rafael Eitan |
| seats10 | 2 |
| last_election10 | 1 |
| percentage10 | 1.99 |
| party11 | Moledet |
| leader11 | Rehavam Ze'evi |
| seats11 | 2 |
| last_election11 | new |
| percentage11 | 1.93 |
| party12 | Centre-Shinui |
| leader12 | Amnon Rubinstein |
| seats12 | 2 |
| last_election12 | 3 |
| percentage12 | 1.73 |
| party13 | Degel HaTorah |
| leader13 | Avraham Ravitz |
| seats13 | 2 |
| last_election13 | new |
| percentage13 | 1.50 |
| party14 | Progressive List for Peace |
| leader14 | Mohammed Miari |
| seats14 | 1 |
| last_election14 | 2 |
| percentage14 | 1.48 |
| party15 | Arab Democratic Party (Israel) |
| leader15 | Abdulwahab Darawshe |
| seats15 | 1 |
| last_election15 | new |
| percentage15 | 1.18 |
| before_election | Yitzhak Shamir |
| before_party | Likud |
| after_election | Yitzhak Shamir |
| after_party | Likud |
| title | Prime Minister |
Legislative elections were held in Israel on 1 November 1988. Voter turnout was 80%.
Parliament factions
Main article: List of political parties in Israel
The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 11th Knesset.
| Name | Ideology | Symbol | Leader | 1984 result | Seats at 1988 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dissolution | Votes (%) | Seats | ||||||
| Alignment (Israel)}};" | Alignment | Social democracy | ||||||
| Labor Zionism | Shimon Peres | 34.9% | ||||||
| Mapam}};" | Mapam | Labor Zionism | ||||||
| Democratic socialism | Yair Tzaban | |||||||
| Likud}};" | Likud | National liberalism | Yitzhak Shamir | 31.9% | ||||
| Tehiya}};" | Tehiya | Ultranationalism | ||||||
| Revisionist Zionism | Yuval Ne'eman | |||||||
| Rafael Eitan | 4.0% | |||||||
| National Religious Party}};" | Mafdal | Religious Zionism | Yosef Burg | 3.5% | ||||
| Hadash}};" | Hadash | Communism | ||||||
| Socialism | Meir Vilner | 3.4% | ||||||
| Shas}};" | Shas | Religious conservatism | ||||||
| Populism | Yitzhak Peretz | 3.1% | ||||||
| Shinui}};" | Shinui | Liberalism | ||||||
| Centrism | Amnon Rubinstein | 2.7% | ||||||
| Ratz | Progressivism | |||||||
| Secularism | Shulamit Aloni | 2.4% | ||||||
| Yahad | Centrism | Ezer Weizman | 2.2% | |||||
| PLFP | Pacifism | Mohammed Miari | 1.8% | |||||
| Agudat Yisrael}};" | Agudat Yisrael | Religious conservatism | Avraham Yosef Shapira | 1.7% | ||||
| Morasha | Religious conservatism | |||||||
| Social conservatism | Haim Drukman | 1.6% | ||||||
| Tzomet}};" | Tzomet | Agrarianism | ||||||
| Zionism | Rafael Eitan | - | ||||||
| Tami | Religious Zionism | |||||||
| Economic egalitarianism | Aharon Abuhatzira | 1.5% | ||||||
| Kach | Religious Zionism | |||||||
| Kahanism | Meir Kahane | 1.2% | ||||||
| National List}};" | Ometz | National liberalism | Yigal Hurvitz | 1.2% | ||||
| Mada | Israeli Arab interests | Abdulwahab Darawshe | - | |||||
| Independent | - | - | - | - |
Campaign
During the campaign, left-wing parties were in a state of conflict. Mapam and Ratz rejected the possibility of running on a joint list.. When Ratz signed a surplus vote agreement with the Alignment, Mapam accused Ratz of wanting to "remove Mapam from the political scene", to which Ratz leader Shulamit Aloni responded by saying that "Mapam's panic is understandable. It is a spoiled party, rich in assets and jobs, which fears any young, fresh organization without vested economic interests that comes to fight with clean hands." She also highlighted the inevitability of the two parties becoming allies, comparing Mapam to the biblical character Saul throwing his spear at David.
Further to the left, there was outright hostility between the Progressive List for Peace and Hadash, resulting in physical altercations between their activists.
Party slogans
| Party or alliance | Original slogan | English translation | Refs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Likud}}" | Likud | "" | "Only the Likud can" | |
| Alignment (Israel)}}" | Alignment | "" | "The Alignment, the path to a breakthrough" | |
| National Religious Party}}" | Mafdal | "We need faith in the country" | ||
| Mapam}}" | Mapam | "" | "This time, Mapam" | |
| Hadash}}" | Hadash | "" | "Two states for two peoples" | |
| Ratz (political party)}}" | Ratz | "" | "The facts point to [vote for] Ratz" | |
| Shinui}}" | Shinui | "There is a sensible solution, the centre - Shinui!" | ||
| Tehiya}}" | Tehiya | "" | "It's time to wake up to Tehiya [a revival]" | |
| Tzomet}}" | Tzomet | "" | "All roads lead to Tzomet [crossroad]" | |
| Moledet}}" | Moledet | "There is only one homeland" | ||
| Degel HaTorah}}" | Degel HaTorah | "This time there is a choice - Degel HaTorah" |
Debates
| Date | Organizer | Moderator | Present Invitee Non-invitee | Likud | Alignment | Refs | Likud}}" | Alignment (Israel)}}" | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **P** | ||||||||||
| Yitzhak Shamir | **P** | |||||||||
| Shimon Peres |
Surplus-vote agreements
Two parties could make an agreement so that they were considered to be running on a joint list when leftover seats were distributed. The Bader–Ofer method favors larger lists, meaning that a joint list is more likely to receive leftover seats than each list would individually. If such a joint list were to receive a leftover seat, the Bader–Ofer method would be applied a second time to determine which of the parties that make up the joint list would receive it. The following agreements were signed by parties prior to the election:
- Alignment-Ratz
- Shas-Degel HaTorah
- Mapam-Shinui
- Likud-Tehiya
- The Movement for a Just Society - Yemenite Association in Israel
Results
Aftermath
Likud's Yitzhak Shamir formed the twenty-third government on 22 December 1988, including the Alignment, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah in his coalition, with 25 ministers.
In 1990 Shimon Peres tried to form an Alignment-led coalition in a move that became known as "the dirty trick", but failed to win sufficient support. Eventually Shamir formed the twenty-fourth government on 11 June 1990, with a coalition encompassing Likud, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael, Degel HaTorah, the New Liberal Party, Tehiya, Tzomet, Moledet, Unity for Peace and Immigration and Geulat Yisrael. Tehiya, Tzomet and Moledet all left the coalition in late 1991/early 1992 in protest at Shamir's participation in the Madrid Conference.
Several defections occurred during the Knesset term; five members of Likud left to form the Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea. After two of them returned, the party was renamed the New Liberal Party. Yitzhak Peretz left Shas and established Moria. Eliezer Mizrahi left Agudat Yisrael and established Geulat Yisrael. Efraim Gur left the Alignment to establish Unity for Peace and Immigration, which later merged into Likud.
The Twelfth Knesset saw the rise of the ultra-orthodox religious parties as a significant force in Israeli politics, and as a crucial "swing" element which could determine which of the large two secular parties (Likud, Alignment) would get to form the coalition government. Ratz, Mapam, and Shinui merged into Meretz, while Black Panthers broke away from Hadash.
Notes
References
References
- [[Dieter Nohlen]], Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I'', p127 {{ISBN. 0-19-924958-X
- Yerushalmi, Shalom. (26 February 1988). "Renewed initiative to unite Mapam and Ratz". Kol Ha'ir.
- Verter, Yossi. (17 August 1988). "Mapam: Ratz wants to eliminate us". Hadashot.
- (1989-03-09). "The Elections, the Peace Camp and the Left - MERIP".
- "סיסמאות בפוליטיקה הישראלית".
- "כרוזים וכרזות בחירות 1988".
- "סיסמת הבחירות העובדות מצביעות רצ מעריב 12 אוגוסט 1988 אוסף העיתונות הספרייה הלאומית".
- "עימות בחירות 1988".
- [https://www.knesset.gov.il/lexicon/eng/seats_eng.htm The Distribution of Knesset Seats Among the Lists – the Bader-Offer Method], [[Knesset]] website
- "Publications Notebook 3588".
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
Ask Mako anything about 1988 Israeli legislative election — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up freeThis content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.
Report