Israeli legislative election, 1959

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The Elections for the fourth Knesset were held on 3 November, 1959.

1 Results
- 1.1 Non-qualifiers
2 The Fourth Knesset
3 External links

[edit] Results

Party	% of vote	Seats at start of session	Seats at end of session
Mapai	38.2%	47	47
Herut Movement	13.5%	17	17
National Religious Party	9.9%	12	12
Mapam	7.2%	9	9
General Zionists ¹	6.2%	8	0
Labour Unity	6.0%	7	7
Religious Torah Front ²	4.7%	6	6
Progressive Party ¹	4.6%	6	0
Maki	2.8%	3	3
Progress and Development	1.3%	2	2
Participation and Brotherhood	1.1%	2	2
Agriculture and Development	1.1%	1	1
Liberal Party ¹	-	0	14
Agudat Israel ²	-	0	4
Agudat Israel Workers ²	-	0	2

¹ The General Zionists and the Progressive Party merged to form the Liberal Party

² The Religious Torah Front split into its two constituent parts, Agudat Israel and Agudat Israel Workers

[edit] Non-qualifiers

The following parties ran for election, but did not pass the electoral threshold:

Independents
Independent Faction for Israeli Arabs
Israeli Arab Labour Party
Leaving North Africa Consolidation
National Union
New Immigrant Front
Progress and Work
Sephardim and Oriental Communities
Socialist Union
Spanish National Party
The Holocaust Handicapped and Injured Faction
Third Power
Yemenite Faction

[edit] The Fourth Knesset

The fourth Knesset started with David Ben Gurion's Mapai party forming the ninth government on 17 December, 1959. His coalition included the National Religious Party, Mapam, Labour Unity, the Progressive Party and the three Israeli Arab parties, Progress and Development, Participation and Brotherhood and Agriculture and Development. The government had 16 ministers. Mapai's Kadish Luz became the Speaker of the Knesset.

The government collapsed when Ben Gurion resigned on 31 January, 1961, over a motion of no-confidence brought by Herut and the General Zionists concerning the Lavon Affair. Rather than form another government, Ben Gurion called new elections for the 15 August, 1961.