1959 Israeli legislative election

Elections for the 4th Knesset
Israel
← 1955 3 November 1959 1961 →

All 120 seats in the Knesset
61 seats needed for a majority
Turnout81.6% (Decrease 1.2 pp)
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
Mapai David Ben-Gurion 38.2 47 +7
Herut Menachem Begin 13.5 17 +2
Mafdal Haim-Moshe Shapira 9.9 12 +1
Mapam Meir Ya'ari 7.2 9 0
General Zionists Yosef Sapir 6.2 8 −5
Ahdut HaAvoda Yisrael Galili 6.0 7 −3
Religious Torah Front Yitzhak-Meir Levin 4.7 6 0
Progressive Party Pinchas Rosen 4.6 6 +1
Maki Shmuel Mikunis 2.8 3 −3
Progress and Development Ahmed A-Dahar 1.3 2 New
Cooperation and Brotherhood Labib Abu Rokan 1.1 2 New
Agriculture and Development Mahmud Al-Nashaf 1.1 1 0
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
David Ben-Gurion
Mapai
David Ben-Gurion
Mapai

Legislative elections were held in Israel on 3 November 1959 to elect the 120 members of the fourth Knesset. Mapai remained the dominant party, gaining seven seats. Following the elections, Mapai leader David Ben-Gurion formed ninth government on 17 December 1959. His coalition included the National Religious Party, Mapam, Ahdut HaAvoda, the Progressive Party and the three Israeli Arab parties, Progress and Development, Cooperation and Brotherhood and Agriculture and Development. The government had 16 ministers. Mapai's Kadish Luz became the Speaker of the Knesset.

Voter turnout was 81.6%.[1]

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p124 ISBN 0-19-924958-X