1981 Israeli legislative election

Prior to the elections, Menachem Begin's government faced instability due to internal conflict amongst coalition partners and international pressures, as well as issues with corruption, and failure to pass legislation. Discontent with the government was growing, and 40% of people agreed that "the major problems facing the state and the entire political system must be changed and a strong government of leaders and independent of parties should take control".Hasin, E. (1981). Survey conducted by M. Zemach. January 1981, quoted in "The Israeli Democracy: The Beginning of the End?" Monition 30:73-75.

{{main list|List of political parties in Israel}}

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 9th Knesset.

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! rowspan="2" colspan=2| Name

! rowspan="2"| Ideology

! rowspan="2"| Symbol

! rowspan="2"| Leader

! colspan="2"| 1977 result

! rowspan="2" |Seats at 1980
dissolution

|-

! Votes (%)

! Seats

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Likud}};"|

| Likud

| National liberalism

| {{Script/Hebrew|מחל}}

| Menachem Begin

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan=1|33.4%

| {{Composition bar|43|120|{{party color|Likud}}}}

| {{Composition bar|42|120|{{party color|Likud}}}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Alignment (Israel)}};"|

| Alignment

| Social democracy
Labor Zionism

| {{Script/Hebrew|אמת}}

| Shimon Peres

| style="text-align:center;"|24.6%

| {{Composition bar|32|120|{{party color|Alignment (Israel)}}}}

|{{Composition bar|34|120|{{party color|Alignment (Israel)}}}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Democratic Movement for Change}};"|

| Democratic Movement for Change
Democratic Movement

| Liberalism

| rowspan=4|{{Script/Hebrew|יש}}

| Yigael Yadin

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan=4|11.6%

| {{Composition bar|15|120|{{party color|Democratic Movement for Change}}}}

|{{Composition bar|3|120|{{party color|Democratic Movement for Change}}}}

|-

| style="background:#397D4A;"|

| Movement for Change and Initiative
Shinui

| Liberalism
Centrism

| Amnon Rubinstein

| {{Composition bar|0|120|#397D4A}}

|{{Composition bar|4|120|#397D4A}}

|-

| style="background:#163F7A;"|

| Ahva

| Liberalism

| Shafik Asaad
Shlomo Eliahu

| {{Composition bar|0|120|#163F7A}}

|{{Composition bar|1|120|#163F7A}}

|-

| style="background:#0272A0;"|

| Ya'ad

| Liberalism

| Assaf Yaguri

| {{Composition bar|0|120|#0272A0}}

|{{Composition bar|1|120|#0272A0}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|National Religious Party}};"|

| Mafdal

| Religious Zionism

| {{Script/Hebrew|ב}}

| Yosef Burg

| style="text-align:center;"|9.2%

| {{Composition bar|12|120|{{party color|National Religious Party}}}}

|{{Composition bar|12|120|{{party color|National Religious Party}}}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Hadash}};"|

| Hadash

| Communism
Socialism

| {{Script/Hebrew|ו}}

| Meir Vilner

| style="text-align:center;"|4.6%

| {{Composition bar|5|120|{{party color|Hadash}}}}

|{{Composition bar|5|120|{{party color|Hadash}}}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Agudat Yisrael}};"|

| Agudat Yisrael

| Religious conservatism

| {{Script/Hebrew|ג}}

| Yehuda Meir Abramowicz

| style="text-align:center;"|3.3%

| {{Composition bar|4|120|{{party color|Agudat Yisrael}}}}

|{{Composition bar|4|120|{{party color|Agudat Yisrael}}}}

|-

| style="background:#825A47;"|

| Telem

| Centrism

| {{Script/Hebrew|כן}}

| Moshe Dayan

| style="text-align:center;"|-

| {{Composition bar|0|120|#825A47}}

|{{Composition bar|3|120|#825A47}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Tehiya}};"|

| Tehiya

| Ultranationalism
Revisionist Zionism

| {{Script/Hebrew|ת}}

| Yuval Ne'eman
Geula Cohen

| style="text-align:center;"|-

| {{Composition bar|0|120|{{party color|Tehiya}}}}

|{{Composition bar|2|120|{{party color|Tehiya}}}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Development and Peace (political party)}};"|

| Flatto-Sharon

| Populism

| {{Script/Hebrew|פש}}

| Shmuel Flatto-Sharon

| style="text-align:center;"|2.0%

| {{Composition bar|1|120|{{party color|Development and Peace (political party)}}}}

|{{Composition bar|1|120|{{party color|Development and Peace (political party)}}}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Left Camp of Israel}};"|

| Sheli

| Socialism

| {{Script/Hebrew|ש}}

| Aryeh Eliav

| style="text-align:center;"|1.6%

| {{Composition bar|2|120|{{party color|Left Camp of Israel}}}}

|{{Composition bar|2|120|{{party color|Left Camp of Israel}}}}

|-

| style="background:#C61318;"|

| United Arab List

| Arab satellite list

| {{Script/Hebrew|ימ}}

| Seif el-Din el-Zoubi

| style="text-align:center;"|1.4%

| {{Composition bar|1|120|#C61318}}

|{{Composition bar|1|120|#C61318}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Poalei Agudat Yisrael}};"|

| Poalei Agudat Yisrael

| Religious conservatism

| {{Script/Hebrew|ד}}

| Kalman Kahana

| style="text-align:center;"|1.3%

| {{Composition bar|1|120|{{party color|Poalei Agudat Yisrael}}}}

|{{Composition bar|1|120|{{party color|Poalei Agudat Yisrael}}}}

|-

| style="background:#C80004;"|

| Ratz

| Social democracy
Secularism

| {{Script/Hebrew|רצ}}

| Shulamit Aloni

| style="text-align:center;"|1.2%

| {{Composition bar|1|120|#C80004}}

|{{Composition bar|1|120|#C80004}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Independent Liberals (Israel)}};"|

| Independent Liberals

| Liberalism

| {{Script/Hebrew|לע}}

| Gideon Hausner

| style="text-align:center;"|1.2%

| {{Composition bar|1|120|{{party color|Independent Liberals (Israel)}}}}

|{{Composition bar|1|120|{{party color|Independent Liberals (Israel)}}}}

|-

| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|

| Independent

| -

| -

| -

| style="text-align:center;"|-

| {{Composition bar|0|120|{{party color|Independent (politician)}}}}

|{{Composition bar|2|120|{{party color|Independent (politician)}}}}

|}

The 120 seats in the Knesset were elected by closed list proportional representation, with seats allocated using the D'Hondt method. This led to numerous parties winning seats and multi-party government coalitions.

Since 1965 parties had begun abandoning attempts to frame moral issues in favor of spreading wider nets to catch a bigger range of voters. Rather than focusing on controversial issues that divided them, parties took to forming clusters that resorted to "emotive catchwords" and the lowest common denominator.{{Cite journal|last=Mendilow|first=Jonathan|date=1983|title=Party Clustering in Multi-Party Systems: The Example of Israel (1965-1981)|journal=American Journal of Political Science XXVII|pages=64–85|doi=10.2307/2111053 |jstor=2111053 }} The party clusters had set aside fundamental ideals in order to work together, which meant that infighting amongst the coalitions was inevitable.

Menachem Begin, Likud's most popular candidate, served as a strong factor for the party's resurgence. 41% of the adult Jews responded in favor of seeing Begin as prime minister, with 49% saying Begin would better be able to deal with the country's problems.Survey by Dahaf Research Institute, June 1981, N=1237 The Alignment, whose announcement of potential major ministerial appointments failed to include Yitzhak Rabin, left the impression of a power-hungry group of politicians, with animosity between party leaders Shimon Peres and Rabin.

Public perception of the parties became instrumental in the elections; throughout the campaign the Alignment was seen and painted as the establishment party, considered by 48% of Israeli citizens surveyed to be more old-fashioned, despite its opposition to the government for the four years prior. The Alignment was also seen as self-interested by rather than interested in the good of the people, as well as corrupt. Likud, meanwhile, was seen as slightly stronger (50% as compared with the Alignment's 44%), more honest (57%), and more concerned with the fate of the citizens than that of the party (45%). Likud was able to benefit from having only been created 8 years prior, giving it an image of newness and innocence.

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center

!colspan=4|Public perception of the parties{{Cite journal|last=Arian|first=Asher|date=April 1981|title=Israeli Election Study, 1981|url=http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/IFSS/studies/2996|journal=Israel Institute of Applied Social Research|access-date=2017-04-29|archive-date=2020-07-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725024217/https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/IFSS/studies/2996|url-status=dead}}

|-

!Characteristic

!Ideal

!Alignment

!Likud

|-

|align=left|Strong/weak

|93/92

|44/33

|50/33

|-

|align=left|Right/left

|55/13

|28/40

|77/7

|-

|align=left|Old-fashioned/progressive

|15/61

|48/26

|42/31

|-

|align=left|Middle class/working class

|28/32

|27/42

|55/14

|-

|align=left|Young/old

|52/10

|17/51

|28/35

|-

|align=left|Sephardi/Ashkenazi

|11/11

|6/47

|18/25

|-

|align=left|Worries about itself/the citizens

|3/89

|43/37

|31/45

|-

|align=left|Inexperienced/experienced

|4/86

|4/79

|45/38

|-

|align=left|Honest/corrupt

|

|35/39

|57/18

|-

|align=left|Cannot/can be believed

|

|36/42

|32/48

|}

The 1981 elections also saw a rise in the use of ethnic ideas within the political discourse.Hanna Herzog, 'The Ethnic Lists to the Delegates' Assembly and the Knesset (1920 1977) Ethnic Political Identity?' Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Tel-Aviv University, 1981. While Likud and the Alignment were both led by Ashkenazi politicians, the Alignment was considered the party of the Ashkenazi Jews, with the Sephardic vote lost to Likud. The likelihood of Sephardim voting for Likud and Ashkenazim voting for the Alignment was more pronounced than ever before.{{Cite journal|last1=Shamir|first1=Michal|last2=Arian|first2=Asher|title=The ethnic vote in Israel's 1981 elections|journal=Electoral Studies|language=en|volume=1|issue=3|pages=315–331|doi=10.1016/0261-3794(82)90221-9|year=1982}} However, Likud enjoyed the advantage of still being able to appeal to a significant number of Ashkenazi voters, while also maintaining their Sephardi popularity; in contrast, the Alignment was seen as even less Sephardi than in previous years.

Police noted before election day that "there hasn't been an election campaign in Israel as violent as the present one".Salpeter, Eliahu. " A Scary Face in the Mirror." Haaretz, 19 June 1981, p.14. A reason for the violence may have been that this was the first elections in which the public believed both sides had a chance of winning, causing unrest and agitation.{{Cite journal|last=Lehman-Wilzig|first=Sam|date=1983|title=Thunder Before The Storm: Pre-Election Agitation And Post-Election Turmoil|journal=The Elections in Israel, 1983|pages=207}}

Scholars attribute the Likud's comeback, from its lowest point six months prior to the 1981 legislative election, to five main factors: incumbency, candidates, images, campaigns, violence, and ethnicity.{{Cite book|title=The Elections in Israel, 1981|last=Arian|first=Asher|publisher=Ramot Publishing Co.|year=1983|pages=1–5}} Likud's role as the ruling party enabled the party to use its incumbency advantage to increase popularity with policy implementation. The party implemented tax programs that lowered prices for consumers, subsidized oil products at a higher rate than ever before, and used foreign policy that made the Alignment seem unpatriotic if they argued against the moves.

{{Election results

|image=File:Israel Knesset 1981.svg

|party1=Likud|votes1=718941|seats1=48|sc1=+3

|party2=Alignment|votes2=708536|seats2=47|sc2=+15

|party3=National Religious Party|votes3=95232|seats3=6|sc3=−6

|party4=Agudat Yisrael|votes4=72312|seats4=4|sc4=0

|party5=Hadash|votes5=64918|seats5=4|sc5=−1

|party6=Tehiya|votes6=44700|seats6=3|sc6=New

|party7=Tami|votes7=44466|seats7=3|sc7=New|color7=#5294AE

|party8=Telem|votes8=30600|seats8=2|sc8=New|color8=#825A47

|party9=Shinui|votes9=29837|seats9=2|sc9=–5

|party10=Ratz|votes10=27921|seats10=1|sc10=0

|party12=Poalei Agudat Yisrael|votes12=17090|seats12=0|sc12=−1

|party13=Independent Liberals|votes13=11764|seats13=0|sc13=−1

|party14=United Arab List|votes14=11590|seats14=0|sc14=−1

|party15=Development and Peace|votes15=10823|seats15=0|sc15=−1

|party16=Left Camp of Israel|votes16=8691|seats16=0|sc16=−2

|party17=Arab Brotherhood List|votes17=8304|seats17=0|sc17=New

|party18=List for Aliyah|votes18=6992|seats18=0|sc18=New

|party19=Kach|votes19=5128|seats19=0|sc19=0

|party20=Independence|votes20=4710|seats20=0|sc20=New

|party21=One Israel|votes21=3726|seats21=0|sc21=New

|party22=Arab Citizens' List|votes22=2596|seats22=0|sc22=New

|party23=Pensioners' List|votes23=2404|seats23=0|sc23=New

|party24=Unity Party|votes24=1293|seats24=0|sc24=New|color24=#386195

|party25=Ya'ad|votes25=1228|seats25=0|sc25=New

|party26=Otzma|votes26=839|seats26=0|sc26=New

|party27=Tent Movement|votes27=545|seats27=0|sc27=New

|party28=Abolish Income Tax|votes28=503|seats28=0|sc28=New

|party29=Amkha|votes29=460|seats29=0|sc29=New

|party30=Youth Movement|votes30=412|seats30=0|sc30=New

|party31=Council to Rescue the Homeland|votes31=405|seats31=0|sc31=New

|party32=Initiative–Independents Movement|votes32=400|seats32=0|sc32=New

|invalid=17243

|total_sc=0

|electorate=2490014

|source=[https://en.idi.org.il/israeli-elections-and-parties/elections/1981/ IDI], Nohlen et al.

}}

Menachim Begin (of the Likud) became Prime Minister and in August 1981 included the National Religious Party, Agudat Yisrael, the Movement for the Heritage of Israel (Tami) and Tehiya in his coalition to form the nineteenth government. After Begin resigned for health reasons, Yitzhak Shamir formed the twentieth government in October 1983, with the same coalition parties.

During the Knesset term, two MKs defected from Likud to the Alignment. Haim Drukman left the National Religious Party and sat as an independent MK, whilst two other MKs left the National Religious Party and formed Gesher – Zionist Religious Centre before returning two weeks later. Telem split into Ometz and the Movement for the Renewal of Social Zionism, whilst Ratz joined the Alignment but then broke away again.

• 1980 Israeli Labor Party leadership election

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.knesset.gov.il/review/ReviewPage.aspx?kns=10&lng=3 Historical overview of the Tenth Knesset] Knesset
• [https://www.knesset.gov.il/history/eng/eng_hist10_s.htm Factional and Government Make-Up of the Tenth Knesset] Knesset

{{Israeli elections}}

Israeli legislative

Legislative election

Category:Legislative elections in Israel

Israel

Israel

Category:Menachem Begin

Category:Shimon Peres