| Election Name: | Elections for the 2nd Knesset |
| Previous Election: | 1949 |
| Next Election: | 1955 |
| Election Date: | 30 July 1951 |
| Turnout: | 75.1% |
| Country: | Israel |
| Party1: | Mapai |
| Leader1: | David Ben-Gurion |
| Seats1: | 45 |
| Last Election1: | 46 |
| Votes1: | 256,456 |
| Percentage1: | 37.3 |
| Party2: | General Zionists |
| Leader2: | Israel Rokach |
| Seats2: | 20 |
| Last Election2: | 7 |
| Votes2: | 111,394 |
| Percentage2: | 16.2 |
| Party3: | Mapam |
| Leader3: | Meir Ya'ari |
| Seats3: | 15 |
| Last Election3: | 19 |
| Votes3: | 86,095 |
| Percentage3: | 12.5 |
| Party4: | Hapoel HaMizrachi |
| Leader4: | Haim-Moshe Shapira |
| Seats4: | 8 |
| Votes4: | 46,347 |
| Percentage4: | 6.8 |
| Party5: | Herut |
| Leader5: | Menachem Begin |
| Seats5: | 8 |
| Last Election5: | 14 |
| Votes5: | 45,651 |
| Percentage5: | 6.6 |
| Party6: | Maki (historical political party) |
| Leader6: | Shmuel Mikunis |
| Seats6: | 5 |
| Last Election6: | 4 |
| Votes6: | 27,334 |
| Percentage6: | 4.0 |
| Party7: | Progressive Party (Israel) |
| Leader7: | Pinchas Rosen |
| Seats7: | 4 |
| Last Election7: | 5 |
| Votes7: | 22,171 |
| Percentage7: | 3.2 |
| Party8: | Democratic List for Israeli Arabs |
| Leader8: | Seif el-Din el-Zoubi |
| Seats8: | 3 |
| Last Election8: | 2 |
| Votes8: | 16,370 |
| Percentage8: | 2.0 |
| Party9: | Agudat Yisrael |
| Leader9: | Yitzhak-Meir Levin |
| Seats9: | 3 |
| Votes9: | 13,799 |
| Percentage9: | 2.0 |
| Party10: | Sephardim and Oriental Communities |
| Leader10: | Eliyahu Eliashar |
| Seats10: | 2 |
| Last Election10: | 4 |
| Votes10: | 12,002 |
| Percentage10: | 1.8 |
| Party11: | Poalei Agudat Yisrael |
| Leader11: | Binyamin Mintz |
| Seats11: | 2 |
| Votes11: | 11,194 |
| Percentage11: | 1.6 |
| Party12: | Mizrachi (political party) |
| Leader12: | David-Zvi Pinkas |
| Seats12: | 2 |
| Votes12: | 10,383 |
| Percentage12: | 1.5 |
| Party13: | Progress and Work |
| Seats13: | 1 |
| Last Election13: | new |
| Votes13: | 8,067 |
| Percentage13: | 1.2 |
| Party14: | Yemenite Association |
| Leader14: | Shimon Garidi |
| Seats14: | 1 |
| Last Election14: | 1 |
| Votes14: | 7,965 |
| Percentage14: | 1.2 |
| Party15: | Agriculture and Development |
| Leader15: | Faras Hamdan |
| Seats15: | 1 |
| Last Election15: | new |
| Votes15: | 7,851 |
| Percentage15: | 1.1 |
| Prime Minister | |
| Before Election: | David Ben-Gurion |
| Before Party: | Mapai |
| After Election: | David Ben-Gurion |
| After Party: | Mapai |
Elections for the second Knesset were held in Israel on 30 July 1951. Voter turnout was 75.1%.[1]
The second Knesset was highly unstable, with four separate governments, two different Prime Ministers and several defections; Rostam Bastuni, Avraham Berman and Moshe Sneh left Mapam and set up the Left Faction. Bastuni later returned to Mapam whilst Berman and Sneh joined Maki. Hannah Lamdan and David Livschitz also left Mapam, establishing the Faction independent of Ahdut HaAvoda before joining Mapai. Four other members left Mapam to found Ahdut HaAvoda – Poale Zion, but the move was not recognised by the Knesset speaker. During the Knesset term, Sephardim and Oriental Communities joined the General Zionists.
As with the first Knesset, the speaker was Yosef Sprinzak.
See main article: Third government of Israel. The second Knesset started with David Ben-Gurion forming the third government of Israel (the first Knesset had two governments) on 8 October 1951. His Mapai party formed a coalition with Mizrachi, Hapoel HaMizrachi, Agudat Yisrael, Agudat Yisrael Workers and the three Israeli Arab parties, the Democratic List for Israeli Arabs, Progress and Work and Agriculture and Development. Like the first Knesset, there were 15 ministers. The government resigned on 19 December 1952 due to a dispute with the religious parties over religious education.
See main article: Fourth government of Israel. Ben-Gurion formed the fourth government on 24 December 1952, dropping the ultra-orthodox parties (Agudat Yisrael and Agudat Yisrael Workers) and replacing them with the General Zionists and the Progressive Party. The new government had 16 ministers. Ben-Gurion resigned on 6 December 1953 as he wished to settle in the Negev kibbutz of Sde Boker.
See main article: Fifth government of Israel. Moshe Sharett formed the fifth government on 26 January 1954 with the same coalition partners and ministers. Sharett resigned on 29 June 1955, when the General Zionists refused to abstain from voting on a motion of no-confidence brought by Herut and Maki over the government's position on the trial of Malchiel Gruenwald, who had accused Rudolf Kastner of collaborating with the Nazis.
See main article: Sixth government of Israel. Sharett formed the sixth government on 29 June 1955, eliminating the General Zionists and the Progressive Party from the coalition and reducing the number of ministers to 12. The new government did not last long, as a general election was called for 26 July 1955.