2013 Israeli Legislative Election Results -Wednesday Jan 22,2013

2013 Israeli Legislative Election Results

 

• Two out of three Israelis voted in Tuesday's election, a slightly higher proportion than in the previous two elections, surprising observers who had predicted a fall in turnout

• Israel's electoral system of proportional representation has ensured no single party has gained an absolute majority since the creation of the state almost 65 years ago

• Speculation about the composition of the next coalition government intensified as the results came in.Negotiations are expected to last several weeks.

• Right wing and allied Orthodox religious parties won half the seats in the Israeli parliament, presenting Netanyahu with a tough political challenge to put together a stable coalition.

• Netanyahu is likely to continue as PM, as his rightwing electoral alliance, Likud-Beiteinu, is the biggest party after winning 31 of 120 seats and as the leader of the biggest party, Netanyahu will be first in line to assemble a coalition

• Kadima, which was the biggest party in the last parliament with 28 seats, saw its support plummet and only just crossed the threshold of votes needed to win two seats

• Yesh Atid, a new centrist party led by the former television personality Yair Lapid, won 19 seats.

• Labour was the third largest party, with 15 seats.Erel Margalit of Labour said the results indicated "a protest vote against Netanyahu"

• The ultra-nationalist Jewish Home, which showed strongly in opinion polls during the campaign, won11 seats

• Also the ultra-orthodox party Shas won 11 seats

• The leftist party Meretz made an unexpectedly strong showing, with six seats, more than doubling its current presence.

• Three parties mostly supported by Israeli Arabs had 12 seats between them. Although they are regarded as part of the left bloc in the Knesset, it is unlikely they would be part of any coalition government. 

 19th Knesset - Election Results

Party	Chairman	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Likud Yisrael Beiteinu	Benjamin Netanyahu	832,099	23.25%	31	-11
Yesh Atid	Yair Lapid	507,879	14.19%	19	+19
Labor Party	Shelly Yahimovich	409,685	11.45%	15	+2
Shas	Eli Yishai	316,151	8.83%	11	0
The Jewish Home	Naftali Bennett	313,646	8.76%	11	+4
United Torah Judaism	Yaakov Litzman	189,931	5.31%	7	+2
Hatnuah	Tzipi Livni	179,818	5.02%	6	+6
Meretz	Zahava Gal-On	164,150	4.59%	6	+3
United Arab List–Ta'al	Ibrahim Sarsur	135,830	3.80%	5	+1
Hadash	Mohammad Barakeh	111,685	3.12%	4	0
Balad	Jamal Zahalka	95,312	2.66%	3	0
Kadima	Shaul Mofaz	74,735	2.09%	2	-26