1992 Israeli legislative election explained

Elections for the 13th Knesset were held in Israel on 23 June 1992. The election resulted in the formation of a Labor government, led by Yitzhak Rabin, helped by the failure of several small right wing parties to pass the electoral threshold.^[1] Voter turnout was 77%.^[2]

Parliament factions

See main article: List of political parties in Israel. The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 12th Knesset.

Name	Ideology	Symbol	Leader	1988 result		Seats at 1992 dissolution
				Votes (%)	Seats
	Likud	National liberalism		Yitzhak Shamir	31.1%
	Labor	Social democracy		Yitzhak Rabin	30.0%
	Meretz	Social democracy Secularism	—	Shulamit Aloni Yair Tzaban Amnon Rubinstein	—	did not exist
	Shas	Religious conservatism Populism		Aryeh Deri	4.7%
	Agudat Yisrael	Religious conservatism		Moshe Ze'ev Feldman	4.5%
	Ratz	Social democracy Secularism		Shulamit Aloni	4.3%		no longer existed
	Mafdal	Religious Zionism		Avner Shaki	3.9%
	Hadash	Communism Socialism		Meir Vilner	3.7%
	Tehiya	Ultranationalism Revisionist Zionism		Yuval Ne'eman Geula Cohen	3.1%
	Mapam	Labor Zionism Socialism		Yair Tzaban	2.5%		no longer existed
	New Liberal Party	Liberalism	—	Yitzhak Moda'i	—	did not exist
	Tzomet	Nationalism Agrarianism		Rafael Eitan	2.0%
	Moledet	Ultranationalism		Rehavam Ze'evi	1.9%
		Liberalism Centrism		Amnon Rubinstein	1.7%		no longer existed
	Degel HaTorah	Religious conservatism		Avraham Ravitz	1.5%
	PLFP	Pro-peace		Mohammed Miari	1.5%
	Mada	Israeli Arab Interests		Abdulwahab Darawshe	1.2%
	Moria	Ultra-Orthodox interest	—	Yitzhak Peretz	—	did not exist
	Geulat Yisrael	Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox interest	—	Eliezer Mizrahi	—	did not exist

Aftermath

See also: List of members of the thirteenth Knesset. Labour's Yitzhak Rabin formed the twenty-fifth government on 13 July 1992, including Meretz and Shas in his coalition, which had 17 ministers. Hadash and the Arab Democratic Party also supported the government despite not being coalition members. Shas left the coalition in September 1993, and Yiud joined in January 1995.

Rabin's government advanced the peace process to unprecedented levels; the Oslo Accords were signed with Yasser Arafat's PLO in 1993 and the Israel–Jordan peace treaty in 1994. The government's willingness to make peace with Syria and concede the Golan Heights led to Avigdor Kahalani and Emanuel Zisman leaving the party to form the Third Way.

After Rabin's assassination on 4 November 1995, Shimon Peres took over as Prime Minister and formed a new government on 22 November 1995. His coalition was the same as before; Labor, Meretz and Yiud. Peres called early elections in 1996 in order to seek a mandate to continue the peace process,^[3] in which he lost.

The Knesset term saw several defections; two MKs left the Labor Party to establish the Third Way, whilst Nava Arad also left the party. Two MKs left Likud to establish Gesher, whilst Efraim Gur also left the party. Three MKs left Tzomet to establish Yiud; one MK then left Yiud to establish Atid. Yosef Azran left Shas. One MK left Moldet to establish Yamin Yisrael, whilst Yosef Ba-Gad also left the party. United Torah Judaism split into Agudat Yisrael (two seats) and Degel HaTorah (two seats).

See also

• 1992 Israeli Labor Party leadership election
• 1992 Israeli Labor Party primary
• 1992 Likud leadership election

External links

• Historical overview of the Thirteenth Knesset Knesset website
• Election results Knesset website

Notes and References

1. http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles/elec92-future.htm "The 1992 Knesset Elections Revisited"
2. [Dieter Nohlen]
3. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9602/israel_elex/index.html "Memory of Rabin likely to influence Israeli elections"