1984 Israeli legislative election
{{short description|Elections for the eleventh Knesset}}
{{Infobox legislative election
| election_name = Elections for the 11th Knesset
| previous_election = 1981
| next_election = 1988
| election_date = 23 July 1984
| seats_for_election = All 120 seats in the Knesset
| majority_seats = 61
| turnout = 78.8% ({{gain}} 0.3 pp)
| country = Israel
| party1 = Alignment (political party)
| leader1 = Shimon Peres
| seats1 = 44
| last_election1 = 47
| votes1 = 724,074
| percentage1 = 34.9
| party2 = Likud
| leader2 = Yitzhak Shamir
| seats2 = 41
| last_election2 = 48
| votes2 = 661,302
| percentage2 = 31.9
| color3 = #1E2FAA
| leader3 = Yuval Ne'eman
| seats3 = 5
| last_election3 = 3
| votes3 = 83,037
| percentage3 = 4.0
| party4 = National Religious Party
| leader4 = Yosef Burg
| seats4 = 4
| last_election4 = 6
| votes4 = 73,530
| percentage4 = 3.5
| party5 = Hadash
| leader5 = Meir Vilner
| seats5 = 4
| last_election5 = 4
| votes5 = 69,815
| percentage5 = 3.4
| party6 = Shas
| colour6 = #000000
| leader6 = Yitzhak Peretz
| seats6 = 4
| last_election6 = new
| votes6 = 63,605
| percentage6 = 3.1
| party7 = Shinui
| leader7 = Amnon Rubinstein
| seats7 = 3
| last_election7 = 2
| votes7 = 54,747
| percentage7 = 2.7
| party8 = Ratz (political party)
| leader8 = Shulamit Aloni
| seats8 = 3
| last_election8 = 1
| votes8 = 49,698
| percentage8 = 2.4
| party9 = Yahad
| leader9 = Ezer Weizman
| color9 = #0000FE
| seats9 = 3
| last_election9 = new
| votes9 = 46,302
| percentage9 = 2.2
| party10 = Progressive List for Peace
| leader10 = Mohammed Miari
| seats10 = 2
| last_election10 = new
| votes10 = 38,012
| percentage10 = 1.8
| party11 = Agudat Yisrael
| leader11 = Avraham Yosef Shapira
| seats11 = 2
| last_election11 = 4
| votes11 = 36,079
| percentage11 = 1.7
| party12 = Morasha
| leader12 = Haim Drukman
| color12 = #2F4F4F
| seats12 = 2
| last_election12 = new
| votes12 = 33,287
| percentage12 = 1.6
| party13 = Tami
| leader13 = Aharon Abuhatzira
| color13 = #5294AE
| seats13 = 1
| last_election13 = 3
| votes13 = 31,103
| percentage13 = 1.5
| party14 = Kach
| leader14 = Meir Kahane
| color14 = #FFD800
| seats14 = 1
| last_election14 = 0
| votes14 = 25,907
| percentage14 = 1.2
| party15 = Ometz
| leader15 = Yigal Hurvitz
| color15 = #132414
| seats15 = 1
| last_election15 = new
| votes15 = 23,845
| percentage15 = 1.2
| before_election = Yitzhak Shamir
| before_party = Likud
| after_election = Shimon Peres
| after_party = Alignment
| title = Prime Minister
}}
Legislative elections were held in Israel on 23 July 1984 to elect the eleventh Knesset. Voter turnout was 78.8%.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p127 {{ISBN|0-19-924958-X}} The results saw the Alignment return to being the largest party in the Knesset, a status it had lost in 1977. However, the party could not form a government with any of the smaller parties, resulting in a grand coalition government with Likud,{{Cite journal |last=Beilin |first=Yossi |date=1985-04-01 |title=The Israeli general election of 1984 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0261379485900356 |journal=Electoral Studies |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=79–83 |doi=10.1016/0261-3794(85)90035-6 |issn=0261-3794}} with both party leaders, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir, holding the post of Prime Minister for two years each.
Background
=The ongoing South Lebanon conflict=
{{main|South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000)|Sabra and Shatila massacre|1982 Tyre headquarters bombing}}
=Bus 300 affair=
{{main|Bus 300 affair}}
Parliamentary factions
{{main list|List of political parties in Israel}}
The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 10th Knesset.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan=2| Name
! rowspan="2"| Ideology
! rowspan="2"| Symbol
! rowspan="2"| Leader
! colspan="2"| 1981 result
! rowspan="2" |Seats at 1983
dissolution
|-
! Votes (%)
! Seats
|-
| style="background:{{party color|Likud}};"|
| Likud
| {{Script/Hebrew|מחל}}
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan=1|37.1%
| {{Composition bar|48|120|{{party color|Likud}}}}
| {{Composition bar|46|120|{{party color|Likud}}}}
|-
| style="background:{{party color|Alignment (Israel)}};"|
| Social democracy
Labor Zionism
| {{Script/Hebrew|אמת}}
| style="text-align:center;"|36.6%
| {{Composition bar|47|120|{{party color|Alignment (Israel)}}}}
|{{Composition bar|49|120|{{party color|Alignment (Israel)}}}}
|-
| style="background:{{party color|National Religious Party}};"|
| Mafdal
| {{Script/Hebrew|ב}}
| style="text-align:center;"|4.9%
| {{Composition bar|6|120|{{party color|National Religious Party}}}}
|{{Composition bar|6|120|{{party color|National Religious Party}}}}
|-
| style="background:{{party color|Agudat Yisrael}};"|
| {{Script/Hebrew|ג}}
| style="text-align:center;"|3.7%
| {{Composition bar|4|120|{{party color|Agudat Yisrael}}}}
|{{Composition bar|4|120|{{party color|Agudat Yisrael}}}}
|-
| style="background:{{party color|Hadash}};"|
| Hadash
| {{Script/Hebrew|ו}}
| style="text-align:center;"|3.4%
| {{Composition bar|4|120|{{party color|Hadash}}}}
|{{Composition bar|4|120|{{party color|Hadash}}}}
|-
| style="background:{{party color|Tehiya}};"|
| Tehiya
| Ultranationalism
Revisionist Zionism
| {{Script/Hebrew|ת}}
| style="text-align:center;"|2.3
| {{Composition bar|3|120|{{party color|Tehiya}}}}
|{{Composition bar|3|120|{{party color|Tehiya}}}}
|-
| style="background:#5294AE;"|
| Tami
| Religious Zionism
Economic egalitarianism
| {{Script/Hebrew|ני}}
| style="text-align:center;"|2.3%
| {{Composition bar|2|120|#5294AE}}
|{{Composition bar|2|120|#5294AE}}
|-
| style="background:#24317C;"|
| Telem
| Centrism
| {{Script/Hebrew|כן}}
| style="text-align:center;"|1.6%
| {{Composition bar|2|120|#24317C}}
|{{Composition bar|2|120|#24317C}}
|-
| style="background:{{party color|Shinui}};"|
| Shinui
| {{Script/Hebrew|הן}}
| style="text-align:center;"|1.5%
| {{Composition bar|2|120|{{party color|Shinui}}}}
|{{Composition bar|2|120|{{party color|Shinui}}}}
|-
| style="background:#C80004;"|
| Ratz
| {{Script/Hebrew|רצ}}
| style="text-align:center;"|1.4%
| {{Composition bar|1|120|#C80004}}
|{{Composition bar|1|120|#C80004}}
|}
Results
{{Election results
|image=File:1984 Knesset.svg
|party1=Alignment|votes1=724074|seats1=44|sc1=−3
|party2=Likud|votes2=661302|seats2=41|sc2=−7
|party3=Tehiya–Tzomet|votes3=83037|seats3=5|sc3=+2
|party4=National Religious Party|votes4=73530|seats4=4|sc4=−2
|party5=Hadash|votes5=69815|seats5=4|sc5=0
|party6=Shas|votes6=63605|seats6=4|sc6=New
|party7=Shinui|votes7=54747|seats7=3|sc7=+1
|party8=Ratz|votes8=49698|seats8=3|sc8=+2
|party9=Yahad|votes9=46302|seats9=3|sc9=New|color9=#0000FE
|party10=Progressive List for Peace|votes10=38012|seats10=2|sc10=New
|party11=Agudat Yisrael|votes11=36079|seats11=2|sc11=−2
|party12=Morasha|votes12=33287|seats12=2|sc12=New|color12=#2F4F4F
|party13=Tami|votes13=31103|seats13=1|sc13=−2|color13=#5294AE
|party14=Kach|votes14=25907|seats14=1|sc14=+1
|party15=Ometz|votes15=23845|seats15=1|sc15=New|color15=#132414
|party17=Aryeh Eliav|votes17=15348|seats17=0|sc17=New
|party18=Handicapped Organisation|votes18=12329|seats18=0|sc18=New
|party19=Movement for the Renewal of Social Zionism|votes19=5876|seats19=0|sc19=New
|party20=Aliyah and Youth Movement|votes20=5794|seats20=0|sc20=New
|party21=Shiluv|votes21=5499|seats21=0|sc21=New
|party22=Independence|votes22=4887|seats22=0|sc22=New
|party23=National Organisation for the Defence of the Tenant|votes23=3195|seats23=0|sc23=New
|party24=Development and Peace|votes24=2430|seats24=0|sc24=0
|party25=Has Mas|votes25=1472|seats25=0|sc25=New
|party26=Movement for the Homeland|votes26=1415|seats26=0|sc26=New
|party27=Amkha|votes27=733|seats27=0|sc27=0
|invalid=18081
|total_sc=0
|electorate=2654613
|source=[https://en.idi.org.il/israeli-elections-and-parties/elections/1984/ IDI], Nohlen et al.
}}
The Eleventh Knesset
{{see also|List of members of the eleventh Knesset}}
Due to the stalemate produced by the elections, it was decided to form a national unity government, with the Alignment and Likud holding the leadership for two years each. The Alignment's Shimon Peres formed the twenty-first government on 13 September 1984. Alongside the Alignment and Likud, the coalition government included the National Religious Party, Agudat Yisrael, Shas, Morasha, Shinui and Ometz. Outside national unity governments formed during wartime (notably the government formed during the Six-Day War in the term of the sixth Knesset, which had 111 MKs), it was the largest-ever coalition in Israeli political history, with 97 MKs.
In accordance with the rotation agreement, Peres resigned in 1986 and Likud's Yitzhak Shamir formed the twenty-second government on 20 October 1986. Shinui left the coalition on 26 May 1987.
The eleventh Knesset also contained two controversial parties, Kach and the Progressive List for Peace (PLFP). Kach was a far-right party that advocated the expulsion of most Israeli Arabs, and although it had run in previous elections, it had not passed the electoral threshold. Ultimately the party was banned after a law was passed barring parties that incited racism. The attempts made to stop Kach from competing in the next elections also affected the PLFP, as the addition of section 7a to the Basic Law dealing with the Knesset ("Prevention of Participation of Candidates List") included the banning of parties that denied Israel's existence as a Jewish state:
:A candidates' list shall not participate in elections to the Knesset if its objects or actions, expressly or by implication, include one of the following... negation of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people.
On this basis, the Central Elections Committee initially banned the PLFP from running for the 1988 elections, arguing that its policies promoted the scrapping of Israel as a Jewish state. However, the decision was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court of Israel, and the party was able to compete in the elections, winning one seat. Nevertheless, the law was not overturned, the Supreme Court merely deciding it was impossible to determine if "the real, central and active purpose [of the PFLP] is to bring about the elimination of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people",[http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=162890&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Entry barriers to the Knesset race]{{Dead link|date=February 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Haaretz and attempts were made to ban the Israeli Arab parties Balad and Ta'al using the same law prior to the 2003 elections.
During the Knesset term eight MKs left the Alignment; five to establish Mapam (one of which, Muhammed Wattad, later defected from Mapam to Hadash), Abdulwahab Darawshe to establish the Arab Democratic Party, Yossi Sarid defected to Ratz and Yitzhak Artzi to Shinui. The Alignment also gained three MKs when Yahad merged into it.
Ometz and Tami merged into Likud. Mordechai Virshubski defected from Shinui to Ratz. Rafael Eitan broke away from Tehiya to establish Tzomet. Haim Drukman defected from Morasha to the National Religious Party. Shimon Ben-Shlomo broke away from Shas to sit as an independent.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.knesset.gov.il/review/ReviewPage.aspx?kns=11&lng=3 Historical overview of the Eleventh Knesset] Knesset website
- [https://www.knesset.gov.il/history/eng/eng_hist11_s.htm Election results] Knesset website
{{Israeli elections}}